I made up this fun, delicious soup that is essentially a version of Mexican tortilla soup. It can be a little spicy the first day but mellows quickly in the refrigerator if you can wait that long to eat it (I couldn’t). For the chicken and broth in this recipe, I roasted a whole chicken and we ate it for dinner one night. I then picked the carcass and reserved the leftover chicken, then roasted the carcass in the oven for 10 minutes and placed it in a large pot of water to simmer for 12 hours. I strained the resulting broth into a container and placed it in the refrigerator. When I removed it for this recipe, I removed the hardened, separated layer of fat off of the top of the broth.

Roasted Poblano Soup

3 – Large Poblano peppers (I show four here but 3 is enough)

2 – Large onions

1 1/2 cups – Corn

1 1/2 cups – Black beans (cooked, drained, and rinsed)

2-3 cups – Shredded chicken

4 cups – Chicken broth

10-12 – Small tomatillos (or two can’s worth)

1 tsp. – Ground cumin (I toasted whole cumin and coriander then ground it with my mortar and pestle)

1/4 tsp. – Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. – Ground coriander

2 – Avocados

4 oz – Fresh cotija cheese

1 bunch – Fresh cilantro

10-12 – Fresh corn torillas

Salt/Pepper

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Start by toasting the Poblanos and one onion. I did this using a kitchen torch. You can also do it by grilling directly over your gas flame of your stove (be careful!). If you don’t have any way to do this the proceed to roasting them.

Place them on a small baking tray and roast until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place immediately in a plastic bag to ‘sweat’ them. Let rest for 5 minutes. Remove from the bag and rub the skins off of the peppers (you can rinse them under cold water if you feel like you need to). Remove the top, seeds, and veins, of the peppers then chop into 1 centimeter squares.

Place 1 of the roasted onions, 1/3 of the peppers, and the tomatillos into a blender and blend smooth.

Dice the reserved onion and peppers; sauté lightly. Heat a large skillet on medium heat (I use cast iron) and add the corn without oil. Stir occasionally as the corn dries out, then leave it to scorch for a minute or two without stirring so that some sides of the corn is blackened.

Add the tomatillo mixture, sautéed onion and peppers, corn, beans, chicken, broth, and spices (cumin, coriander, cinnamon) into a large stock pot (or crock pot). Bring to a simmer and simmer for at least an hour. I left mine in a crock pot for 2-3 hours. The soup should thicken just slightly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Before serving prepare the following toppings.

Slice the tortillas into strips using a pizza cutter. Heat oil in a heavy pot to 360 degrees, and fry the tortillas until crisp and lightly browned.

Mince the cilantro. Dice the avocado and cotija into small cubes.

Top each bowl of soup with cotija, avocado, cilantro, and tortilla strips.