Sunday, February 12, 2012

Tortilla Soup

One boneless skinless chicken breast
One quart of chicken broth
Two tablespoons oil
One onion, chopped finely
Two jalapenos, seeds and veins removed, diced
12 oz can V8, preferably Picante, not the hot or bloody mary mix, regular is ok too
Juice of one lime
Handful of cilantro, chopped

Optional toppings:

Corn tortillas
oil
cheese
sour cream
avacado, sliced

Put one boneless skinless chicken breasts in a pot with one quart of chicken broth.  Boil for about 8 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Take the chicken out of the broth and allow to cool while you are cooking up the rest of the soup.    Heat up a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan.  Add a diced onion.  Saute until the onion is tender and fragrant.   Throw in two jalapenos that you have seeded, removed the white veins and chopped.  Saute for a few more minutes.  Add the sauteed onions and peppers to the broth.  Add a twelve ounce can of V8, preferabley the Picante V8, if you can find it.  Regular V8 is ok too.  Add the juice of one lime or a tablespoon of white or cider vinegar to the soup.  The lime juice is better, but don't make a special trip to the store if you don't have it. Bring the soup to a boil and then turn the heat down to low.  While the soup is simmering, shred the chicken and add this to the soup.  Take a handful of cilantro and chop it up.  Throw this into the soup right before you are ready to serve.    You can serve this with tortilla chips, but my favorite thing to do is to slice up a few corn tortillas and fry the strips in some hot oil until crispy.  Put some fried tortilla strips in a bowl.  add a little bit of grated cheese.  Ladle soup on the tortilla strips.  I also like to top the soup with a dallop of sour cream and some slices of fresh avacado.