fiesta in a bowl!

our good friends asion and jason decided to take over heroes/dinner party night. asion made the one thing he says he makes well: cheesy chicken empanadas, courtesy of paula deen. jason, who never disappoints, made some awesome mushroom dip stuff. kiran made some bombin' 7 layer dip (actually, 6 layers because she omitted the beans). i was brainstorming at work (because i think about food ALL day) and realized that i still had a ton of homemade chicken stock to use up from my roasted chicken last week. what makes more sense that chicken tortilla soup? nothing, i say!

this was my first attempt at making chicken tortilla soup. i browsed a few recipes and this is what i came up with based on what i had in my kitchen on monday. it was slightly spicy with a nice consistency that was a bit thicker than broth (but not too much) and had the tasty sweet pop of corn and roasted red peppers going throughout the soup. sooooo good!


chicken tortilla soup
2 tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded & minced
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coriander
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups chicken stock
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup corn (frozen or canned - i used frozen)
1 can black beans
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
crushed tortilla chips
chopped cilantro, chopped red onion, sour cream, cheddar cheese for garnish

heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. after a minute, add the diced chicken and brown. after about 5 minutes, add in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook the veggies with the meat for about 4 minutes, until the onions start to get translucent. add in all the spices and the tomato paste and mix in until the spices and paste are fragrant (about 2 minutes). then add in the chicken stock and the tomatoes, with their juices. break the tomatoes apart with a wooden spoon in the pot. allow it to come up to a boil, then knock it back to a nice simmer. (SIMMA DOWN NOW!) add in the corn, black beans, and roasted red peppers. be sure to get all the starchy bean juices out of the can and into the pot as well. this will help the soup thicken up a little bit. simmer the soup for an additional 6-7 minutes.

put some crushed tortilla chips at the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup on top. serve with any of the garnishes listed above, and you have yourself a mighty tasty bowl o' soup!