This is my take on the traditional Mexican soup, a tomato-based broth that’s made super aromatic by garlic and onions, plus a little heat from jalapeños. It’s hearty enough to fill you up, but it’s not going to bog you down for the rest of the day. This soup is simple enough for a weekday meal, but it’s also a fun dish to entertain with because you can set out a big spread of toppings such as chopped onion and scallions, sliced radishes and jicama, Homemade Tortilla Chips (recipe below) —or store-bought— guacamole or sliced avocado, a variety of grated cheese—you get the idea! It’s especially perfect as a lighter option when having people over to watch a big game on TV. If you are going to be serving this for a crowd, you can leave out the chicken and use veggie broth instead to make this vegetarian-friendly. Then add shredded chicken (or short ribs or pulled pork) to your toppings bonanza for the meat eaters.
This recipe starts with an easy, make-ahead paste of ginger, garlic and cilantro. Marinate the salmon in it a few hours ahead, then bake it in the oven with a quick last minute run under the broiler to sear it to golden brown.
This new recipe includes a technique I've been using for years: roasting the turkey in two stages. I do this because of the Big Turkey Problem: while you're waiting for the turkey's dark meat to cook (which takes longer), the white breast meat dries out. My solution: cook the bird until the breast is still juicy, remove the bird from the oven, and carve off the two sides of the breast. Put the bird back in the oven -and while the dark meat's finishing, serve a white-meat first course. Twenty minutes later, you can serve a dark-meat second course. And you get to drink two wines with this main course: I always like to serve a white wine with the white-meat course and a red wine with the dark-meat course. By the way: the honey-pepper rub burnishes the big bird beautifully.