Cold, snowy weather means one thing to me. Time to get the soup pot out! I had the rest of a chicken I cooked on my rotisserie recently, so I decided to use the carcass with some celery, onion and carrots to make a nice healthy chicken stock. Then, taking the stock and straining it to get all the big pieces out, I pulled the chicken off the bones and got rid of the vegetables and bones. We like tortilla soup around here. I had not made my own stock in quite a while, so I was curious as to how this would work out. The carrots and the celery with the leaves on the tops and the onion were thrown into the pot along with the chicken carcass. The whole house was smelling good. I believe the vegetables used to make the stock gave it a slightly sweet taste. As it turned out, it was a good mix with the other seasonings. I also added the last little bit of stock I had to the soup. Thinned it out a bit. My wife liked it, a lot! Here are a few pictures of the process.
Remnants of my soup stock.
Some corn tortillas. Used two ways. One way ground up to flour for soup thickener and the other way as tortilla strips crisped up in the oven.
A little something for the cook.
The red bell pepper, onion and garlic cooking in the pot.
The finished product with some crispy tortilla strips as a garnish.
Tortilla Soup
Recipe By: Cher Cunningham
Ingredients:
1 each red bell pepper, small, minced
1 each onion, medium, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
3 ounces corn tortillas
3 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup diced cooked chicken
green onions
tortilla strips, toasted
Directions:
1. Put the onion, garlic and bell pepper in the food processor. Pulse until minced.
2. Put the olive oil in a big pan. Add vegetables and cook until transparent, not brown.
3. Add the butter. Remove from heat.
4. Put the corn tortillas in the food processor with the flour, chili powder, cuminn, salt and black pepper. Process into corn meal.
5. Add to big pot and use a wire whisk to make a smooth paste.
6. Cook 4 to 5 minutes. Constantly scraping the bottom and sides.
7. Increase the heat. Add chicken broth 1 cup at a time, constantly stirring with the whisk.
8. Keep whisking until smooth, about 5 minutes. Don’t allow to come to a full boil.
9. Add diced chicken and cilantro.
10. Top with cilantro, green onion and tortilla strips.
11. You can serve with sour cream and/or lime wedges.
Notes:
To change the flavor profile of the tortilla soup, smoke the chicken on the grill.
Recipe can be easily doubled.
