We were in Boston last weekend.
My cousin's wedding was a great reason for a quick trip back east. The event itself was gorgeous, and seeing all our friends and family was a wonderful bonus. The only thing that wasn't wonderful, of course, was the weather.
While it didn't snow while we were in town, and even though I was all too aware of what we were in for, the amount of god damn snow on the ground was positively astounding.

Don't get me wrong. I miss you all terribly.
But I am so glad we moved.

In honor of our visit to the arctic northeast tundra, I wanted to pull out and publish a lost file, if you will. I made this, photographed it, tested it, and wrote a great recipe for it right before we left Boston for LA last year.

But then we moved. Then it was hot. And then I didn't write about anything, let alone seasonally inappropriate soup.

But while doing inventory on photos and posts and creating a calendar, I realized I didn't want to lose this guy. So I decided I wouldn't. I hope it's starting to finally get toward Spring, Boston. I'm sending you all the sunshine I can.







So, I knew I had made (and written about, and photographed--terribly) chicken tortilla soup before, and even blogged about it, so when I went to make this, I consulted my previous post on the matter.

And, I mean... if you can look past the pictures that accompany it, it's not a horrible recipe. It certainly beats anything that comes in a can or a carton. But it utilizes rotisserie chicken. And a jar of salsa. And it's just...

We've come along way over here, I think. And while I'm all for shortcuts, if I'm sharing a recipe with you, I feel like it should be from scratch. Fucking scratch, people! Or else I'm more of a hack than I thought.

Getting back to the point. That last soup recipe was fine, considering my lack of experience. And since I cooked it over three years ago, I can't exactly recall if it tasted great. It was probably--like I said--fine. But this? This, you guys?

So much more than fine.
On a hunt for ideas, I saw Pioneer Woman adds a few tablespoons of cornmeal to her tortilla soup. Intrigued, I tried it--and am very happy I did. It gives the soup just a bit of heft without making it too stew-like, and adds a hint of corn to the tomato/chicken broth base. Absolutely a great little trick to keep in your tortilla-soup-crock-of-tricks.

Other things that made this exponentially mo' betta than the first go? Using chicken thighs. And browning-then-braising-then-shredding-them, à la my last two chicken soup recipes. I love this method. While it's hard to argue that chicken in soup can ever be anything but "moist," this makes for absolutely tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat. It's divine. Seriously. Also the browning of the chicken first creates those illustrious "brown bits" on the bottom of your pan that are so crucial to developing flavor as your cook your veg. This is the way to make chicken soup. I'm calling it now.

So, without further ado-- new and improved, chicken tortilla soup.

Tortilla Soup

Serves 6 or more
~1 hour

What it's Made of:

• ~3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• Spice mix: ~Equal parts cayenne, chili powder, adobo, cumin
• 1/2 cup or so sweet white rice flour (for gluten free, regular flour is fine too!)
• EVOO
• 4 bell peppers, different colors, diced
• 1 decent sized yellow onion, diced
• 3 shallots, diced; set aside a few handfuls to keep raw and serve if you don't have scallions
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3-4 jalapeños, seeds and ribs removed, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• (2) 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• (2) 32 oz cartons low-sodium chicken broth (64 oz total)
• (2) 16 oz cans of beans- I used black and red kidney
• For serving:
• Shredded monterey jack / cheddar / whatever cheese
• Finely sliced scallions or shallots 
• Torn cilantro
• Crumbled corn tortilla chips
• Lime wedges for serving