Yummy Thursday - Chile Chicken Stew

Long story short, due to a “scheduling miscommunication” (which is an occupational hazard when married to a pastor), as of about 4:00 yesterday, I was at a complete loss as to what to make for supper.  The fridge was quite bare, because my twice-monthly Sam’s Club and Aldi run was scheduled for today. I had a ham, a rack of ribs, a kielbasa, a beef roast, and some chicken breasts in the freezer.  I chose chicken: quickest to thaw and submits to experimentation quite nicely.  And experiment we did!

It was a drizzly, cool spring day.  I had been sipping coffee and catching up on The Voice, curled up under an afghan and trying to forget the horror of my morning: Wal-Mart, Target, physical therapy (Libby), and an 18-month check-up with a baby who, it has now been confirmed, is working up SIX teeth.  Libby was in her crib, recovering in her own way: a marathon nap.  I was desperately in need of warm comfort food.  Sounds like a perfect night for a yummy soup and crusty, buttery bread.

Okay.  We have chicken.  We have a Sesame Semolina loaf in the freezer that I picked out of the day-old bakery about a month ago.  Oh, how I love day-old bakery.  What else do we have? I am NOT running back out to the store.  A quick raid of the pantry and vegetable drawer revealed we had the makings of a tasty southwest-type dish.  I pulled some onions and carrots from the fridge, and here’s what I found in the pantry:

 

And away we go!

·         ½ cup (1 stick) butter

·         2 large onions, thinly sliced

·         4-6 cloves garlic

·         4 medium carrots

·         chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, and cinnamon

·         1 can cream of chicken soup

·         1 can corn (drained and rinsed really, really well because canned veggies kind of gross me out)

·         1 can diced green chiles

·         1 large can crushed tomatoes

·         3 small chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

I started with the butter, onions, and garlic (and some salt).  I cooked and cooked and cooked those onions until they were really soft and fragrant, sort of French-onion soup style.  In the meantime, I peeled and cooked 4 carrots in the microwave until they were soft, but not mushy (about 6 minutes).  Once the onions were nice and soft, I added the carrots and used my Mix N’ Chop to coarsely chop the veggies, working them into a nice, chunky soup base.  For those whose kitchens are not stocked with this miracle tool, a potato masher might work well, or you might even mix it up in a blender or food processor for a couple seconds to break it down a little.

 

I seasoned with chili powder, cayenne, and cumin.  I could not tell you how much of each; I am a season-to-taste kinda girl.  I got a little silly and decided to add a little pow of cinnamon, too.  The cooked carrots had added some nice sweetness to the otherwise bold flavors, and I thought the cinnamon would help bring them out.  Just a little, though. 

Next I stirred in a can each of cream of chicken soup, corn, chiles, and crushed tomatoes, and my shredded chicken.  Things were looking pretty thick at that point, so I added 3 ½ soup cans of water to get it to a consistency I was happy with.  You might prefer a little more, a little less.

I brought it all to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer about an hour.  It turned out sooooo yummy.  Accompanied by more slices of warm, crusty bread than I care to admit, it was just the kind of soup that my rainy, crappy day had called for.  Cooking the onions for so long had brought in SO much flavor, and the cinnamon really gave it an interesting twist.  I was pretty pleased that it had the flavor and texture of a really rich cream soup, but with no milk or cheese.  Other than the one stick of butter and one can of cream soup, it’s all vegetables and chicken.  The only thing that might have made it more perfect would be some nice black beans.  And I HAD some in the pantry, but not enough time to soak and cook and whatnot.  Beans take time.  We’ll add them next time, when we make Chile Chicken Stew on purpose, not by accident :)