Friday, February 20, 2009

Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup

I am going to try to pull a fast one this week and enter the same recipe for both Tyler Florence Fridays and Souper Sundays- is that okay? I have a couple reasons for this- 1. its school vacation and everything is crazy, 2. I have been helping to clean my grandfather's house just about every day this week- and therefore not been here as much, and 3. I bought Rachel Ray's new magazine this week, and have been looking at that more than anything, just about every recipe looks great!!

First, I am going to complain about buying chicken at BJ's Wholesale Club, where I usually shop. They used to carry frozen chicken, 10lbs in a big bag, loose, already cleaned up, easy to get out. When I went last week, they have replaced it with a bag of this:
The bag is only half the size and each breast is individually wrapped! I was disgusted with the waste of plastic here. Since I was out of chicken, I did buy it this once, but I won't again.

I took all 4 kids to the grocery store to get a couple things- I forgot how much I dislike that process. I dislike the grocery store in general (as I said I prefer BJ's) but with the kids- I think I said "no" probably 100 times. can I have, can I have.....

For this recipe I needed to buy jalapenos- which I had never purchased before. There was a bin with at least 6 choices, each with their own "hotness" level. I chose these, which were the most mild as I didn't want to worry about burning my eyes out or scarring the children...

Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup
(my changes to the recipe)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (canola oil)
2 medium white onions, diced (one very large)
2 garlic cloves, minced (four- we like garlic)
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped (one can diced & seasoned tomatoes)
1 quart chicken stock (2 quarts using Minor's Chicken Base)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
I also added some cayenne pepper & cumin
Canola oil, for pan-frying
8 corn tortillas, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken (2 breasts)
2 avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced (only one)
1 cup shredded Jack cheese, optional (low fat cheddar)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish (parsley)
1 lime, cut in wedges, for serving
Directions
In the morning, I poached the chicken breasts by putting them into a 11X14 baking dish, covering with water and cooking in 400 degree convection until they were done- or floating.
Place a stockpot over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, jalapenos, and tomatoes; cook, stirring for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked down and pulpy. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat 1-inch of canola oil in a skillet over medium-high flame. When the oil begins to smoke, add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until they are crisp on all sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined platter and sprinkle with salt while they are still hot. I found I had to begin removing them before they were done as the last ones would end up burnt.
Ladle the hot soup into 4 soup bowls and put a pile of shredded chicken on top of each. Top with the diced avocado and fried tortilla strips (and cheese if using). Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com here.
final thoughts: Very good! Adam is a big fan of spicy things, so he thought it was excellent. I liked it too, but I was glad for the cheese & avocado to temper the heat of the soup. As I was cutting the peppers, they did not seem hot at all so I added in the extra spices. But, judging by how spicy the finished product was; I guess they did have a little kick to them. One of the girls were having a sleepover- so with the remaining three one thought it was good but the other two thought it was too spicy. Although- they had talked me into sushi at the store and had eaten that first so they were not really hungry when this was done.
In other news- our first egg is hatching today and we are all very excited!! If you are interested, you can follow the progress on my other blog Sogkonnite Chickens.

10 comments:

NKP said...

Mmm.. I love this kind of soup! Glad your family was pleased too.

Donna-FFW said...

This sounds absolutely delicious.. I love mexican flavored/themed soups.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks and sounds delicious and I am all for multi-tasking, so entering it for both TFF and Souper Sundays is fine by me. See you at the SS round up!

Aloha,

Deb

Michelle said...

I have tried to make Tortilla Soup at least 3 times and it never quite tastes right. I was so disappointed..how could tortilla in chicken stock not taste good?

Your soup looks fabulous and I love the garnishes you chose. I'm going to try this recipe for sure!

Anonymous said...

I did soup this week from Tyler too but forgot to post it. I posted the semifreddo instead. This soup sounds delicious. I will have to try it. I love mexican. Good luck with the chicks. How exciting.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Your soup looks delicious, and I'd have been adding extra spice too! I've been looking for a good chicken tortilla soup, so I'll have to try this one. Good luck with the chicks.
Nancy

Anonymous said...

tortilla soup is one of my favorites. i'll have to try this one out.

Kristin said...

Hi ladies, thanks for coming over! This soup was great- just right for a cold winter's night. After a little repreive from the cold here in RI it seems to be back.
My husband loved this soup- we had the rest last night for dinner and he said a couple of times how much he liked it, yea!!
Our first chick is doing great, and we have a second on hatching now. How exciting!
Kristin

Jenny said...

Hmmm I love this type of soup, haven't done it for awhile.
And I'm with you on shopping with kids, always more expensive than without and takes so much longer!

Kristin said...

Jenny- it's so frustrating going with the kids, huh? The grocery store is set up for this too, they know our resolve can't hold up for the whole trip!! Thanks for coming over, be sure to come over to my new site- http://sogkonniteliving.blogspot.com/
Kristin