As many of you know I live in a small town in Southern Chester County, PA called West Grove. It is in the heart of the mushroom capital, which means we also have a very large Mexican population that works in the mushroom houses. In early December 2020, I attended borough community planning meeting and learned so much more about my little town (demographics, housing, land use, etc.). I didn’t realize 44% of our population is Hispanic/Latinx. This wasn’t a complete surprise, just larger than anticipated. You can find good Mexican food in the area, produce markets cater to the Latin America cuisines, men’s soccer is played at the park on my street, and my favorite local pizza place is owned by Mexican family. So when deciding what to cook next, I decided to try a new Mexican recipe.

During the winter break, I watched Pati Jinch visit Sonora, Mexico. Sonora is located in the north western part of Mexico and borders California, Arizona and New Mexico. I’d never seen her show before, but I quickly fell in love with her. She made a cheese soup, local to the Hermosillo area, with the ingredients I could find locally and the recipe was not too difficult. I thought I’d take a stab at it.

The people of a Sonora are said to have a reputation for being open and direct in their speech and interactions. I think I’d like them. The food is flavorful with unpretentious ingredients prepared in a straightforward manner. This light, meatless soup can be served as an appetizer or a light main course. We decided to make it our main course and were quite full after eating it.

While Pati made it look easy, this recipe took me longer than anticipated. Roasting, peeling and preparing the poblanos took about 1.5 hours (next time do beforehand). I’d welcome any tips. I roasted them in the oven for 40 min, sealed them in a bag for 15 min to steam, but they were still difficult to peel. The soup, while the ingredients seem simple, had depth of flavor that made it delicious, without making my own broth, or cooking it for hours. We melted some of the queso fresco in the soup, and also put cubes in the bottom of the bowl before adding the soup, allowing them to soften, but not melt. It made for a fun and quite different treat. Mom didn’t love all of the potatoes, but ate a bunch and enjoyed the peppers and tomatoes.

Would I make it again? Yes definitely. It was filling, full of flavor, not too difficult to make and fun.