Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love soup.  I love making soup from scratch.  I’ve been using a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup for a while now, but over time have made enough changes that I thought I would just rewrite the whole thing.

When I eat soup, I’m not too keen on big chunks of meat.  Chunks of meat belong in stew.  I prefer the essence of meat with a few small pieces here and there.  If you do prefer the chunks of meat, feel free to start with whole bone-in chicken instead of bones with meat on them.

Start with a broth.  Whenever I roast a a whole chicken or cook bone in chicken breasts I save the bones with a little bit of meat left on them.  I keep them in the freezer in freezer bags.  Limit the amount of breasts per bag to 3.  If you have a whole chicken, divide the bones between two bags.

Broth

Chicken Bones

2 Carrots (peeled and cut in half)

1 Onion (quartered)

1-2 celery tops (the leafier the better)

2 cloves garlic

2 – 3 sprigs of parsley

1 bay leaf

5 peppercorns

Salt to taste

Put chicken bones in a large pot.  Fill to close to the top with water.  You want to yield 7 cups of broth so be sure to use a pot large enough to do so.  Add the rest of ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer for about 3 – 4 hours.  Pull bones out with tongs and let cool.  Remove remaining meat and save to put back into soup later.  Strain broth and skim top to remove fat.  The use of salt is personal preference.  If the broth seems bland add more salt, but also keep in mind that there will be salt in the tomatoes and tomato sauce used in the soup recipe.

I haven’t tried this as of yet, but I would think you could use a crockpot to simmer broth all day and after straining add enough water necessary to yield 7 cups of broth.  A condensed broth of sorts.

Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium jalapeno pepper, chopped

1/2  green bell pepper

7 cups chicken broth (see previous recipe)

2-3 potatoes peeled and diced

2 cups frozen corn

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes

2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce

Corn Tortillas (sliced into strips and fried)  OR Tortilla Chips

Shredded Cheese (optional)

Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeño and green pepper with olive oil in a large pot until soft.   I am always afraid of burning my garlic so lots of times I will wait to add the garlic just before the peppers and onions have started to soften.  Add all the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.