My Recipes: Mean Green Chicken Tortilla soup

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I recently made this tried-and-true Rachael Ray recipe for a going-away dinner for one of our fellow American friends who's been living in Scotland the past several months. He's already back on home soil as we speak! I'm so jealous.  :)

Like all recipes I ever attempt to follow, I changed this one up dependant on what's available in my fridge or what I feel like adding or taking away. For instance, there are absolutely no tomatillos in Scotland. (I can hear them now: "What's that you say? A toma-what?").

So instead, I subsituted these friendly little orange sweet tomatoes I found.

The recipe is called "mean green" because the original green tomatillos add a very pretty green color to the dish. But my soup turned out a bit more colorful, which is just as well, since I also had to use purple onions instead of white.

Plus I doubled up the ingredients since I was feeding several hungry boys, so I had two huge pots going at the same time!

Here's the ingredient list I used:

•2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

•1 package small tomatoes, rinsed and chopped
•1 zucchini, chopped
•2 medium purple onions, chopped
•Handful of jalapenos slices from a jar, chopped
•1 heaping tablespoon of chopped garlic out of a jar
•1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (half a palmful)
•Salt and freshly ground pepper
•One 12-ounce bottle Mexican beer (I like to use Corona, but only had Coors Light!)
•1 quart chicken broth
•6 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried)
•1 package of chicken breasts, chopped into bite-size pieces
•One 8 ounce bag tortilla chips (8 ounces)
•Shredded cheese
•1 lime, cut into wedges
•4 scallions, finely chopped
•Cilantro, chopped (a generous handful)

In a large soup pot, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, onion, jalapeños and garlic and season with the cumin and salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is softened and the tomatoes become very soft, 7-8 minutes. Add the beer and cook over high heat until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and thyme, cover and bring to a boil. Stir in the chicken and cook at a low boil for about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Crush a handful of tortilla chips into 4 bowls and sprinkle with the cheese. Ladle the chicken stoup on top. Squeeze a lime wedge into each bowl and top with the scallions and cilantro.

And because I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, I snagged this lovely shot from RR's website.

Photo by Tina Rupp

Think it's time to finish watching Julie & Julia ;)

"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure.

In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

~Julia Child