It’s been cold here… real cold. I know not as cold as places like Fargo, North Dakota or Fairbanks, Alaska but for Texas it sure is freakin’ cold. We supposedly were in the teens last night and the high yesterday was only 30 degrees! That’s below freezing (in case you didn’t know)! How can our HIGH be below FREEZING! And seriously I know I can’t complain since the whole country is under a sever freeze warning and it is much much colder every where else; but those people can handle it not me! Luckily, for my sake today was warmer!
What’s the perfect cure for the winter time blues? Well a big ole bowl of Chicken Tortilla soup! Eric has been asking me to make tortilla soup for months now (since like our first ‘cold front’ way back in October). But since he placed such high expectations on it and repeatedly asked for it I put a lot of pressure on finding the perfect tortilla soup recipe. I searched high and low and could never find a recipe I could deem as THE perfect tortilla soup recipe. This one was very delicious (Eric and I ate the whole pot in just two sittings, just between the two of us) but I guess I am still on the hunt for the PERFECT tortilla soup!
Note: I found the original recipe for this tortilla soup on foodnetwork.com, and it is a Rachael Ray recipe. Her recipe was the bases for this recipe, however, I did make several changes. My final version is the recipe below. Enjoy!
Why-the-Chicken-Crossed-the-Road Santa Fe Tortilla Soup
Kitchen Concoctions version of Rachael Ray’s recipe featured on foodnetwork.com
Vegetable or corn oil, for drizzling, plus 2 tablespoons
1 red bell pepper, split and seeded
2 large chicken breast, boiled and shredded
1 cup frozen corn
1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (medium), chopped — available in small cans in Mexican and Spanish food section of market
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoon of the adobo sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes, 28 ounces
1 can tomato sauce, 8 ounces
3 cups chicken stock, available in re-sealable paper containers on soup aisle
Garnish with:
1 cup blue corn tortilla chips, broken up into large pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar or pepper Jack cheese
Heat broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil and place bell pepper on top. Drizzle pepper with oil and roast under broiler for 3-4 minutes. Remove to cool, 5 minutes. Remove charred skin from the pepper and chop.
Heat a soup pot to medium high. Add 2 tablespoons oil to hot soup pot. Add onions, garlic, chipotle peppers and corn. Cook vegetables 5 to 7 minutes to soften. Add boiled and shredded chicken to pot. Season with poultry seasoning, cumin, salt and pepper. Heat chicken through to incorporate seasonings. Add adobo sauce, tomatoes, tomato sauce and stock. Bring soup to a bubble, reduce heat to medium low. Chop grilled red pepper and stir into soup. Heat soup through for 15 minutes.
Serve soup immediately with a scatter of shredded cheese and topped with crushed tortilla chips.
It's been pretty cold down here in Mexico, too! Nothing like a bowl of soup to take the chill off. Love tortilla soup, it's one of my faves!