Mexican Chicken Soup

This has quickly become one of my favorite soups for cold days. It goes together fairly quickly and has a wonderful fresh taste with just a hint of spice.

I actually had saved the recipe back when all or most of my kids were still living at home but had never gotten around to making it. I found it again a while back when I was looking for a soup to make for dinner. You see I love a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold evening and we have had more than our share of cold evenings this winter.

This soup has so many things going for it but if I had to pick just one way to describe it I would say it just tastes so fresh.

I like to start by chopping all the veggies, I line up my soup pot and a bowl next to my cutting board and just start chopping. The veggies that are going to be cooked in the first stage go directly into the soup pot and those for later go into the bowl. Next I put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves (from the first aid aisle in the grocery store) and cut/seed the jalapeno. Then (still wearing the gloves) remove the skin and any excess fat from the chicken. The jalapeno goes directly on a piece of foil on a baking sheet for later. The chicken goes right on top of the veggies in the soup pot.

After I clean up my work area I add the water and seasonings to the soup pot and bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer while I check my email or whatever.

It is very important that the chicken you use is on the bone because that will give so much flavor to the soup. Boneless chicken just can't give enough flavor to the broth.

When you drain the veggies from the first stage of cooking be sure to get as much of the flavorful broth back into the pot from them as you can. I use a wooden spoon and mush the veggies against the strainer to get all the juices out of them.

That first batch of veggies are there to give the flavor to the soup. The ones in the second stage of cooking give some flavor but also some texture too. By doing the soup this way you get the vegetable flavor in the broth and still have wonderful veggies in the soup that are not over cooked. Also because the broth is made fresh you get the wonderful fresh flavors at their peak.

There is plenty of meat and a perfect amount of veggies in each bowl to make for a filling and warming dinner on any cold night.

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do.

Mexican Chicken Soup

1 lb. to 1 ½ lbs. bone in chicken parts (thighs or breasts work the best) skin removed

3 cups water

1 cup chopped onion, divided

1 cup chopped celery, divided

½ cup chopped tomato

¼ cup chopped cilantro (stems and leaves)

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¾ cup chopped carrot

1 jalapeno pepper, cut in half seeds removed.

1 small avocado

In a soup pot combine the water, chicken pieces, ½ cup onion, ½ cup celery, tomato, cilantro, salt, cumin, hot sauce, and ground pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool.

Strain broth, reserving broth and discarding vegetables.

Add the remaining onion and celery along with the carrot to the stock in the soup pot.

Bring back to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.

Meanwhile heat oven to 425° and roast jalapeno until skin blisters and is dark (about 10-15 minutes) Move pepper pieces to a bowl, cover and allow to cool about 15 minutes. Remove most of the skin and chop pepper.

Remove cooked chicken from the bones and chop or tear it with your fingers (my preference)

Add the chicken and peppers to the soup and heat just until hot through.

Serve in bowls topped with chopped avocado.

Makes 2 large servings

Chicken Artichoke Pizza

I have an interesting history with this particular recipe. I first found it by accident and passed by it quickly without much thought (other than thinking it was an odd combination for topping a pizza)

You see I was trying to find a recipe for a pizza similar to one I had eaten out. It had been topped with among other things chicken and artichoke hearts. It was so good and I really wanted to make one like it. So I did the natural thing I went to Google to try to find a recipe. The thing is the pizza I am sharing today was what came up. And boy did it come up, there were what seemed like an unlimited number of pages with recipes for this pizza. Then I bought a copy of my favorite cooking magazine a week or so later and right there in the pages of my magazine yet another version of this pizza. I might add here that I still hadn't found the recipe I was looking for.

So I decided that since so many people were so enamored of this recipe that it was the only chicken and artichoke pizza I was finding I should probably give it a chance. (even if the toppings seemed a bit unconventional)

My youngest son was still living at home at the time so we talked about it and he was up for trying it. So I picked one of the many versions of the recipe and made it. We were cautious but hopeful that we would like the end result.

Well, one bite and were were both addicted to this pizza. We also figured out what the draw is. That strange combination of topping ingredients, well they just happen to be the same ones that make up artichoke dip. Yeah, that wonderful gooey concoction that I can not be trusted around. I will eat the entire dish given the opportunity. So this pizza takes that dip, puts it on a pizza crust adds meat and allows you to call it dinner instead of an appetizer. It even takes the work of dipping out of the equation, its on a crust so it is even easier to eat than a dip.

So needless to say we ended up having that pizza fairly often. Then the day came when my son moved out. I didn't want to not eat this pizza, but I knew I couldn't be trusted around the “family sized” version. I simply had to reduced this recipe ASAP.

The only ingredient that I was concerned about was the artichoke hearts, since they come in a fairly large can and I wasn't going to need all the can for the smaller recipe. Then I remembered that I had noticed frozen artichoke hearts at the grocery store. I decided to try those and they work perfectly.

The recipe I am sharing is how I make a small version of this pizza and it is based on the recipe I worked out for my son and I using our preferences and likes.

For the crust on this any 6” pizza crust will work, you could use the recipe for par-baked individual crusts that I shared in my Pizza Kit blog post, a Greek pita bread (the kind meant to be folded) or a pre-baked crust from the store (like the ones from Boboli)

I find I love having the frozen artichoke hearts in my freezer, they keep well and are nice to throw into a lot of recipes besides this one. I just put the opened package into a reclosable freezer bag.

A small note, I normally use green onion for the topping but the day I made this I had forgotten to get any at the grocery store so I used some chopped yellow onion. Any onion you have on hand will work just fine.

Chicken Artichoke Pizza

1 small (about 6”) pre-baked pizza crust

3 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

8 frozen artichoke heart quarters, thawed and coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup shredded 4-cheese Italian blend cheese (or shredded mozzarella cheese)

¼ cup chopped cooked chicken

1 green onion (or 1 Tablespoon chopped onion)

Preheat the oven to 450° F.

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, grated Parmesan, artichokes and garlic. 

 

Spread mixture over pizza crust leaving a small border all around.

Top with about ¾ of the shredded cheese, the chicken, and the onion.

Top with the remaining cheese. 

 

Bake directly on the oven rack for 8 to 10 minutes (when the cheese is melted and the pizza is thoroughly heated through.

Serves 1

Enjoy.