Mexican Chicken Soup — Barefoot Bloggers

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Gosh I love scheduled posts. I wrote this up a couple days ago knowing that as you read this I’d either be driving to my families home in Virginia, eating turkey, or getting ready to drive to see WH’s family on Friday before heading back to my parents house on Saturday… gosh I love dual holidays. I think instead of Pre-Nups regarding financials, couples should have to draw up holiday schedule contracts before they get married. I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen come Christmas.

So today is the posting day for another Barefoot Bloggers recipe. And I’m on time!! Go me. I made this soup a few weeks ago. Boy was I nervous. I’ve never cooked with bone-in chicken before or even jalapenos. We all know my experiences with cumin and let’s just say this recipe had all the makings of a big disaster.

Thankfully, I impressed myself. I did make a few mistakes here and there and had to tweak some ingredients to match what I actually had (or didn’t have, in this case). I forgot to crush the whole tomatoes so we had some bigger chunks I was able to separate with the wooden spoon. I also realized I did not have any tortillas to add to the soup, but I don’t think too much was lost. And finally, in true French Kitchen form, I misread my recipe notes when I halved the ingredients and put in twice the amount of cumin. OH MAN I panicked. But everything turned out well and WH thought the soup could be a little spicier next time.

Next time? Well hot dog, another winner.

Oh, PS.  Like I said, never used jalapenos before.  I know that you have to be careful with the oils because it will burn your eyes if you rub them, etc.  Well, somehow I got the oils under two of my fingernails and could not get it cleaned out.  My fingers burned for an entire 24 hours.  And to top it off, I scratched the corner of my eye.  Burn.  Lovely.  I’m pretty awesome.

Thanks to Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats for choosing this recipe.

Mexican Chicken Soup

Serves 3 to 4

Stuff you need:

• 1 split (1 whole) chicken breasts, bone in & skin on
• good olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 c. chopped onion
• 1/2 c. chopped celery
• 1 c. chopped carrots
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 & 1/4 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade (That’s really funny Ina…)
• 14 oz. can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed
• 1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander seed
• 1/2 c. chopped cilantro leaves

What to do with that stuff:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan.
3. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat 1 & 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.
6. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown.
7. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
8. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapeno peppers, cumin, coriander, 1 Tbsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, and the cilantro.
9. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
10. When the chicken is done, remove and allow to cool until able to be handled.
11. Discard the skin and bones and shred the meat.
12. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste.
13. Serve the soup hot topped with a dollop of sour cream and grated cheese.

Source [FN]. Find the original recipe here.