Chicken Chile Pueblo
(Makes 3½ Quarts, Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
5 – 16 oz. Cans Chicken Stock (2½ quarts)
1 – Whole Boneless Chicken Breast, cubed
1 – Med New Red or White Potato, peeled and diced
1 – Strip Bacon (or homemade NM chiccarones)
1/3 - Cup Lean Pork Loin, cubed
Flour
Vegetable Oil
3-6 Roasted Pueblo Cone (“Mosco”) Chiles (Hot Hatch, Anaheim, Big Jim can be substituted).
(Mixed Red and Green colors from later harvest is nice. Start conservatively!)
1 – Tbsp Chopped Onion (OK, 2 tbsp max)
1 – Large Overripe Tomato chunked (Canned Tomatoes can be substituted)
1 – Med Celery Stalk sliced w/leaves
1 – Med Carrot sliced (optional)
2 – Med Mushrooms sliced or chopped
1 – Fresh Large Garlic Clove, peeled and cut in half
1 – Tbsp Vinegar
1 – Tsp Lime Juice (optional)
½ - Tsp Salt
¼ - Tsp Sugar
½ - Tsp Dried Cilantro (Coriander)
1 – Pinch Cumin, crushed or whole
To Prepare:
Strip blackened skins from chiles, give a quick rinse, cut off cap, remove pulp and most of seeds. Cut into long strips, then squares. WARNING: Never touch your eyes or sensitive parts of the body after handling hot chiles.
While bacon or chiccarones are rendering slowly with ½ clove garlic in med fry pan, in a 4-Quart saucepan or soup pot, add all of chicken stock, diced potatoes, and remainder of garlic (skewer it so you can find it later) and simmer. Add vinegar, salt and sugar.
Lightly flour cubed chicken and pork. Remove bacon and garlic from fry pan when done. If you made chiccarones instead, discard 2/3 of fat. Add moderate amount of vegetable oil to remaining fat, raise burner to med high heat, and quickly brown the chicken and pork, turning continuously. Raise the saucepan temp to a full boil and add vegetables, promptly reduce heat again to a simmer, and add chiles, herbs and crumbled bacon or chiccarones.
When meat just begins to plump, remove, drain, and add it to the soup pot, and continue to simmer over low heat. REMOVE THE GARLIC from the soup when you can smell it. Simmer until potatoes are soft. Add additional salt or sweetness to taste. Serve in wide bowls with grated mild cheddar if desired and warm tortillas on the side.
Hint: If your soup has too much hot chile, it can be slowed down with a bit more vinegar and salt/sugar to balance. Overdoing the garlic or onions can make the soup bitter. So can jalapenos so don't use them. Other vegetables can be added (corn and asparagus are good), but beans are a bit pedestrian. Tomato sauce can be added to redden the stock. A tiny bit of booze or wine in the stock is more or less traditional. Don't add hoppy beer though because it will add a bitter taste.
Enjoying it as I am posting this. Goes surprisingly well with red or white wine.
(Makes 3½ Quarts, Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
5 – 16 oz. Cans Chicken Stock (2½ quarts)
1 – Whole Boneless Chicken Breast, cubed
1 – Med New Red or White Potato, peeled and diced
1 – Strip Bacon (or homemade NM chiccarones)
1/3 - Cup Lean Pork Loin, cubed
Flour
Vegetable Oil
3-6 Roasted Pueblo Cone (“Mosco”) Chiles (Hot Hatch, Anaheim, Big Jim can be substituted).
(Mixed Red and Green colors from later harvest is nice. Start conservatively!)
1 – Tbsp Chopped Onion (OK, 2 tbsp max)
1 – Large Overripe Tomato chunked (Canned Tomatoes can be substituted)
1 – Med Celery Stalk sliced w/leaves
1 – Med Carrot sliced (optional)
2 – Med Mushrooms sliced or chopped
1 – Fresh Large Garlic Clove, peeled and cut in half
1 – Tbsp Vinegar
1 – Tsp Lime Juice (optional)
½ - Tsp Salt
¼ - Tsp Sugar
½ - Tsp Dried Cilantro (Coriander)
1 – Pinch Cumin, crushed or whole
To Prepare:
Strip blackened skins from chiles, give a quick rinse, cut off cap, remove pulp and most of seeds. Cut into long strips, then squares. WARNING: Never touch your eyes or sensitive parts of the body after handling hot chiles.
While bacon or chiccarones are rendering slowly with ½ clove garlic in med fry pan, in a 4-Quart saucepan or soup pot, add all of chicken stock, diced potatoes, and remainder of garlic (skewer it so you can find it later) and simmer. Add vinegar, salt and sugar.
Lightly flour cubed chicken and pork. Remove bacon and garlic from fry pan when done. If you made chiccarones instead, discard 2/3 of fat. Add moderate amount of vegetable oil to remaining fat, raise burner to med high heat, and quickly brown the chicken and pork, turning continuously. Raise the saucepan temp to a full boil and add vegetables, promptly reduce heat again to a simmer, and add chiles, herbs and crumbled bacon or chiccarones.
When meat just begins to plump, remove, drain, and add it to the soup pot, and continue to simmer over low heat. REMOVE THE GARLIC from the soup when you can smell it. Simmer until potatoes are soft. Add additional salt or sweetness to taste. Serve in wide bowls with grated mild cheddar if desired and warm tortillas on the side.
Hint: If your soup has too much hot chile, it can be slowed down with a bit more vinegar and salt/sugar to balance. Overdoing the garlic or onions can make the soup bitter. So can jalapenos so don't use them. Other vegetables can be added (corn and asparagus are good), but beans are a bit pedestrian. Tomato sauce can be added to redden the stock. A tiny bit of booze or wine in the stock is more or less traditional. Don't add hoppy beer though because it will add a bitter taste.
Enjoying it as I am posting this. Goes surprisingly well with red or white wine.