Laura's Kitchen Sink Sopa de Lima and Farmer's Market Salsa Verde

For my first Taste and Create, I was paired with Laura of The Spiced Life. Laura has a great blog with lots of recipes so it was extremely hard to select just one. Laura's Kitchen Sink Sopa de Lima caught my eye because of the limes used the season the soup and the leftover roasted chicken in my frig that needed to be used.

This is simple recipe that packs a lot of flavor. I began by making chicken broth with the remnants of the roasted chicken last night. Today I assembled the soup using frozen tomatoes from our summer harvest and leftover corn. I also substituted flour tortillas for the corn tortillas in Laura's recipe. The results were delicious. I added jalopeno peppers to Laura's list of garnishes so Kenny can add as much heat to the soup as he wants!

Sopa de Lima

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
20 ounces of diced tomatoes
8 cups chicken broth
2 (14 oz.) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups whole kernel corn
3 cups shredded roasted chicken
2 flour tortillas, cut into small strips
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Juice from 3 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil and onions and cook the onions for 8 minutes or until they are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Add the spices and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Add the tomatoes and cook for 8 minutes to concentrate the flavors. Add the chicken broth, beans, corn, chicken, tortillas and cilantro and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Before serving, add the lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with garnishes. Yield: 13 - 14 cups.

Garnishes
Salsa Verde
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Sour cream
Homemade tortilla strips
Chopped jalopeno peppers

Laura loves green salsa so I decided to give it a try and created a variation of her Farmer's Market Salsa Verde.

Salsa Verde

1 poblano pepper
12 ounces tomatillos
1/2 large onion chopped
4 cloves garlic. crushed and peeled
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
jalopenos to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Wash the poblano pepper and pat dry. Remove the husks from the tomatillos, wash, and pat dry. Place pepper and tomatillos on a cookie sheet and broil in the oven until the tomatillos are olive green and the pepper is charred, turning as needed. The tomatillos will cook faster than the pepper, so remove them when they are done and continue to broil the pepper until it is charred all over. Place in a bowl to cool.

Turn the oven to 425 degrees F. and roast the onions and the garlic for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are lightly browned.

Peel the poblano and remove the seeds. Place the poblano, the tomatillos, and juices in a food processor and pulse until pureed. Add the onions, garlic, and remaining ingredients to the food processer and pulse until pureed. Refrigerate. Yield: 1 1/2 cups.

Laura, thanks for these wonderful recipes that are sure to become a family favorite.