Chicken Tortilla Soup~Leftovers

Chicken Tortilla Soup
“The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.’
Calvin Trillin
While “a chicken in every pot”-1928 campaign speech echoes in the minds of many folks and offspring, today the bones are just as important to fill our soup pots and save for another night’s soup or meal made from the broth.    

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup
A good hearty chicken stock or broth is the base for this soup and while I had plenty of homemade stock I didn’t want to waste the roasted chicken bones and the meat that remained attached, so I simmered all the bones in 12 cups of stock and  within a couple of hours I had 8 cups ready for the soup.  Store bought stock or broth is perfectly acceptable.

Ingredients:

Chicken broth from roasted chicken bones 12 cups
Carrot, shallot, garlic, celery, salt and pepper, sprig oregano, 1 jalapeno, cilantro
Fire roasted tomatoes, sautéed onion and garlic, 2 teaspoons tomato paste
Chicken from 1/2 roasted chicken (used some for quesadillas)
1 diced carrot
1/4 teaspoon cumin, more if you like
Squeezes of lime
Tortilla chips or baked tortilla strips

Save all of the chicken bones from the roasted citrus chicken, toss in a soup pot and add 12 cups homemade chicken stock, add celery, shallot, garlic, oregano, cilantro, salt and pepper, simmer for 2 hours on low heat until you have reduced the stock to about 8 cups, strain and de-fat stock.  Put stock back into soup pot and simmer on low.  Heat a sauté pan and sauté ½ diced onion,  carrot, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 1 roasted fresh jalapeno (seed pepper before adding to stock if necessary) for about 2 minutes, stir in tomato paste and toss in 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes, stir and thoroughly heat.  Pour tomatoes into stock and heat on medium until piping hot.  Serve with chopped cilantro, broken tortilla chips or baked tortilla strips, and a little pico de gallo