In the old-fashioned “fondas” scattered around Mexico, diners usually find only a handful of tables and simple, comforting dishes. A three-course lunch at many of these unpretentious mom-and-pop eateries can cost as little as a few dollars.
One of those courses might well be sopa de fideos, a much-loved soup of thin noodles lightly browned in oil, then simmered in a puree of chicken broth with roasted tomato, onion, garlic and jalapeño. The result is a smoky, spicy vegetarian soup that can easily stand on its own as a full meal — and one that comes together with pantry ingredients in less than half an hour.
Traditional recipes often call for roasting fresh tomatoes before adding them to the soup, but in this recipe from our book “Cook What You Have,” which draws on pantry staples to assemble easy, weeknight meals, we mimic those flavors with canned fire-roasted tomatoes.
If you have only regular canned tomatoes (whole or diced) in the pantry, they’ll work fine but will lack the smoky subtleties. Vermicelli or capellini pasta work in this recipe, but the noodles should be broken to make toasting them easier. To do so easily, place them in a zip-top plastic bag and seal, then snap them into 1- to 2-inch pieces.
