Because our trips to Mexico have mostly focused on the central highlands, we’ve been acquainted with tortilla soup as long as we’ve been going to Mexico. You might find it in some coastal resorts, but it’s primarily a staple of the inland Mexican cities. We can’t count how many different versions we’ve eaten over the years.

Sometimes the soup is gussied up with fresh chopped herbs, cubes of avocado, or diced hard-boiled egg. Often it is simply thin chicken broth thickened with fried tortilla strips. But we’ve never eaten a bad version of tortilla soup. Sitting in a small back room or under the arcade (as in Morelia, above), tortilla soup makes a dependably tasty and economical lunch.

Over the years, we’ve perfected a version that suits our tastes and doesn’t take hours to make. To our surprise, the final version resembles the tortilla soup recipes of everyone from Rick Bayless to Zarela Martinez.

We have trouble getting Mexican cotijo cheese, so we’ve learned to like the soup with crumbled cow’s milk feta. Likewise, Mexican field corn rarely makes it to New England, so we settle for regular sweet corn cut from the cobs. (Roasted Mexican corn does impart a charcoal-roasted flavor that’s hard to beat.) We’ve also found that it’s worth lightly toasting whole dried chiles and cumin seed and grinding them in a spice grinder for this soup. The chile flavor comes out rich and deep instead of harsh and brassy, as it can with pre-ground spices. We also use a lot of chicken to make the dish a hearty stew.

Our main departure from tradition is to toast the tortilla chips in the oven rather than frying them in lard. It makes for a lighter, more digestible bowl of soup.

TORTILLA SOUP WITH CORN AND CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

• 8 small or 6 large corn tortillas, halved and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
• 1 tablespoon oil
• medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon ground ancho chile
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 large chicken breast, roasted and meat shredded
• 2 cups corn kernels cut from cob (3-4 ears)
• crumbled feta cheese
• chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS

Toast tortilla strips on cookie sheet in 350°F oven, turning often until browned and crisp. This will take 5-10 minutes, depending on how moist the tortillas are.

Heat oil in large pot and cook onion until tender — about 5 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaf, and spices and cook 1 minute more. Add stock, tomato, salt, and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes. Add corn and simmer another 10 minutes. Add shredded chicken and simmer 5 minutes. Let cool and reheat at serving time.

Place baked tortilla strips and some chopped cilantro in each serving bowl. Ladle soup over chips and cilantro. Top with crumbled feta and more chopped cilantro and serve.