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!

laundry and soup

usually on a thursday night, i'd be rolling around in the dirt with my rugby girls, but it's raining in l.a. (gasp!), so practice was cancelled.  it's actually a blessing in disguise since my pile of laundry has gotten so massive that the pile on top of the basket is equal to the amount actually in the basket.  i haven't been able to find time to do laundry in 3 weeks!  no bueno.

since i actually got to have a night in, i decided to make the best meal ever on a rainy day: soup!!  i had a bunch of russet potatoes left over from last week (it was buy one, get one free for a 5 lb. bag!).  you know what that means...potato soup!

i gotta say, i love the slight spice of the curry with the tanginess of the lemon/sour cream.  when i initially seasoned the soup, i thought it was a bit salty and that it lacked some acidity.  now, what did i have with acidity in my kitchen....ah, yes: karl's million lemons from last weekend.  the lemon did just the trick!  i'll be freezing some of this and taking some for work tomorrow.  if i had it, i'd totally have some buttered sourdough toast with this...mmmm, butter.

curry potato soup

(serves 4-8, depending on how much deliciousness each person wants to consume)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2-3 medium carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

3 tbsp curry powder

1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp nutmeg

couple pinches cayenne

salt & pepper

6 cups chicken stock

4 russet potatoes, peeled & chopped

1 lemon, zest & juice

1/4 cup sour cream

2 scallions, chopped (for garnish)

in a soup pot, heat up the olive oil.  put in the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves.  salt & pepper the veggies.  after the veggies have sweat out a bit, put in all the spices and saute for a couple minutes.  then put in the potatoes and chicken stock.  put the heat up to medium-high and bring the soup up to a boil.  then knock back the heat to allow it to simmer until the potatoes are soft.  

while the veggies are simmering, mix 2 tsp of the lemon juice, zest, and sour cream together.  set aside.

when the potatoes are tender, take off the heat.  fish out the bay leaves.  using an immersion blender, blend all the veggies together until the soup is smooth.  add salt & pepper to taste.  stir remaining lemon juice through the soup.  

portion out the soup into bowls.  put a dollop of the lemon sour cream in the middle and sprinkle scallions over the soup.  serve and enjoy the awesomeness.