Cooking with Dr. Monkey

Today's episode:  Cowgirl Chef's smokin' tortilla soup.

Sparky had to get some dental work done and soup was about the only thing she could tolerate afterwards so I made this soup the other night for supper.

I started out by cooking up a little over one pound of boneless chicken thighs.  I like thighs because they have a little fat on them which makes what ever I'm cooking taste better.  I also put 5 cups of water and two Not Chik'n bullion cubes in my stock pot and turned it on medium.

Next I broiled on high for 12 minutes one white onion that I had cut into 8 wedges and 8 cloves of garlic in it's skin.  When it was done I took it out and let it cool.

When the onion got cool I put it in my processor with the garlic that I had slid out of it's skin.  I added about four chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and about two thirds of a quart of my home canned tomatoes.  I salted it and added a pinch of black pepper and I pulsed it all up until it was nice and smooth, then I added it to my broth.  Then I rinsed out my processor and I shredded my cooked chicken in it and then I added it to the stock pot as well.  I let it all simmer together for about an hour on low heat.

Before I served the soup I toasted and cut up four flour tortillas, shredded some cheddar cheese, and I cut up in avocado into bite sized chunks.

When my soup was ready I added the tortilla chips to our bowls, along with the avocado chunks, then I covered that with my soup.

Next I topped the soup with the cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

The verdict: feckin' delicious.  I'm in love with this soup.  Cowgirl Chef calls for toasted corn tortillas in her recipe but since I had flour, that's what I used.  It turned out fine but next time I will use the corn variety.  Seriously though, this may be my new favorite soup.  It's a little spicy, tomatoey, and meaty.  The avocado chunks are a delight to bite into and the whole dish warms and fills you up.  I'll definitely make this again.  If you're a vegetarian, subsititute mushrooms or beans or TVP for the chicken.  You could even add roasted corn or whatever other veggie you wanted.

Cookbook review

I first became aware of Cowgirl Chef (aka Ellise Pierce) when I put the words 'green chile' in a well known search engine one night.  One of the first links was to her fabulous blog.  When I saw what kind of cuisine she specialized in and I saw the photos of her food, I instantly developed a culinary and blog crush on her.  Later when I saw her picture I developed a schoolboy crush on her.

I continued on for months reading her blog and from time to time I'd comment.  When I saw she was on Facebook, I friended her, and lo, and behold, she friended me back.  I was ecstatic.  Here I was now friends, at least in cyber space anyway, with a super cute well known food writer and chef.

When I started putting some of my art on Facebook, she bought two mixed media pieces right away, which made me love her all the more.  So when I read that her cookbook was coming out, I knew I had to get a copy as soon as I possibly could.  And that's just what I did a few days ago. 

I was super excited to get my very own copy and when it came via UPS, I tore the package open and began looking through it, I imagined all the recipes of hers that I was (am) going to make.  I fell in love with her easy writing style and the beautiful photos of her food.  It's a beautifully done book and it's full of beautiful photos of food and of the swoon worthy Ms. Pierce.

The recipes look easy to follow, and the one I made the other night was super easy to follow:

I made her Paris Chicken Fricassee recipe for supper the other night, although I didn't use a habanero, which is optional anyway, because sometimes I find them to be too oppressive.  Over all though, this dish is a home run.  It's got chicken, chorizo, fresh rosemary, tomatoes (I used half a quart of my home canned tomatoes), onions, garlic, salt, and pepper in it, so what's not to love?   I nearly made her cheesy rosemary olive flatbread to go along with it but I was out of cheddar and olives and I didn't want to go to the store.

Unlike a lot of cookbooks, this one is not intimidating.  There's not a shit ton of ingredients for each recipe and the steps to making these dishes are very easy to follow.  But best of all the food is packed with the flavors I love.  And you make most all of this food with fresh ingredients.

All in all this cookbook is a winner.  I look forward to making more of Ellise's recipes and sharing them with local friends and with you via this blog.  I recommend this cookbook highly, and I'd say that even if I didn't have a massive crush on the author.

Go, buy your copy today and support a great gal who makes great food.