Cooking from My Box: Green Chile Chicken Soup

After spending a lot of time in New Mexico over the past few years, I’ve developed a serious love for green chiles.  And while I love the traditional pork based green chile stew, it’s kind of labor intensive, not to mention pork shoulder is not the world’s leanest cut of meat.  Recently I’ve tweaked my traditional chicken soup recipe to incorporate this new favorite ingredient.  This has become one of my favorite ways to use extra roast chicken and it’s been a great addition to the family menu as we’ve all suffered from various ailments this winter. I find the potatoes are a nice change from noodles for your starch, and they have the advantage of not turning to mush if you have leftovers.  If you are fortunate enough to have access to roasted hatch green chiles from New Mexico, that’s awesome. Otherwise you can use canned – Trader Joe’s sells canned hatch chiles. Either way, it’s a great way to warm up a cold winter’s night!

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced

4 carrots, diced

4 ribs celery, diced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp dried oregano, preferably Mexican

1 T chile powder

1 tsp cumin

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 medium size red or other waxy potatoes, cut into bite size chunks (you want roughly 2 cups of potatoes)

1 quart chicken broth

1 7 oz can roasted diced green chiles, or 4 roasted hatch chiles, peeled and diced

2 cups roasted chicken, shredded or chopped into bite size pieces

1 T Olive oil

sour cream, avocado,  lime wedges and shredded cheese to garnish

Directions:

In a dutch oven or large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, and salt, cook until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.  Add pepper, oregano, chile powder, cumin, and garlic. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add potatoes, stir to coat with spices. Add chicken broth to pot. Bring to a broth to a boil then lower to a simmer and cover, cooking until potatoes are tender, 15-2o minutes.  Stir in green chiles and chicken, simmer until heated through and green chile flavor permeates soup, about 5 minutes.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.  Garnish with sour cream, cheese, avocado and lime if desired.