Celery Camouflaged Cilantro

I must be spending too much time in the kitchen and not enough time out on the water.  This afternoon I will remedy that, having finally realized that I need saltwater, and not just sweat and tears, to keep my sanity.  I have been out of the ocean for almost four weeks and that, of course, is unacceptable.  To be fair, I have been preoccupied with getting my Bikram classes started and beginning my running routine again.  And when I was not emailing and facebooking about yoga or running along the roadside toward the beach then I was probably pouting that people are not yet flocking to my classes to find wellness in the form of a 90 minute hot yoga session.  I have decided to keep the Bikram time and the running time and nix the pouting time.  In its place I will make diving time.  I can run and work in the afternoons four times a week and dive a couple days a week.  No time for pouting and more time enjoying the Bahamas.
Back to why I must be spending too much time in the kitchen:  I have another cooking tale for you.  This one is actually a few weeks old, but the story is too fun to keep to myself and the recipe is absolutely delicious.  That’s right, you get a story AND a recipe today.  We’re coming into summer, but we haven’t left the cold weather completely behind and so now is perhaps the last opportunity to share this soup with you during an at least semi-appropriate season.  I am not opposed to soup in the summer, but let us be honest, it just is not the same as soup on a chilly night after a cold day in the water (or snow or whatever brand of winter your home offers).  Sitting, in fact, exactly in the spot I now occupy in the Starbucks in Cable Beach, I had the pulled chicken epiphany.  The brainstorm spawned two fantastic dishes:  chicken chili and chicken tortilla soup.  The latter is the subject of the day.  There are a multitude of renditions of tortilla soup, but all share some common elements.  To make a successful soup, you need tomatoes, onion, garlic and cilantro.  Ingredients and spices vary from this point, but I maintain that without those four you may as well not make the attempt.  I may seem rigid on the matter and in theory I remain so, although my steadfastness was shaken when push almost came to shove.
The day I made the soup, Chris and I went shopping for ingredients only to find everything except the cilantro.  Choosing not to despair, we headed to another market a little down the way.  One danger, living on an island this small, is that one store being completely out is often a harbinger of all other stores also being completely out.  Such was the case and in the basket where the cilantro should have been, we found only parsley.  The next best option was to investigate the spice isle and look for dried cilantro.  I was not nearly as excited about this prospect, being a firm believer in fresh herbs whenever possible.  We found the dried cilantro, but the only brand available cost $5.50.  Since I 99% of the time opt for fresh cilantro over dried, I could not see the logic in spending that amount.  Fresh cilantro is only $1.87 per bushel.  I shook my head and told Chris to put the dried stuff back.  I would make the soup sans cilantro.  Thankfully, Chris was scandalized by the suggestion and so led us back to the produce section to make one last sweep in our search.  We lifted bushels of parsley but found only rogue sprigs of cilantro.  Rogue…sprigs…
“How much do you need?” Chris asked me, pulling the sprigs from the parsley.  I only needed 1/4 cup to make the soup and so we delved in, searching for more cilantro.  And we found just enough cilantro to give that oh-so-important flavor to the soup.  But now we had another dilemma because cilantro was not priced by the pound, but by the bushel and we had far less than that.  We did not want to pay full price for a tenth of the product and we also did not want to try leaving the store pinching a few stems of herbage.  Luckily, celery has leaves that camouflage cilantro quite nicely.  We bought the celery after tucking the cilantro in amongst its leaves and left the store with the conviction that we had found a mutually beneficial solution.  We got our cilantro and some celery and the store made a sale and did not lose anything since no one else was going to pay for that cilantro anyway.

And so here it is!  The priceless ingredient for the soup!

To go along with it, the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 bag black beans (actually a little less) – precooked; a can of black beans rinsed and drained would suffice, but the fresh ones make a big difference I think

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
14 oz whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 onion chopped – divide into 1/3 and 2/3 portions
1 red bell pepper chopped- divide in 2
3-4 corn tortillas (more for thicker soup) roughly chopped
1 can corn, drained
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves garlic chopped – divided in 2/3 and 1/3 portions
4 cups chicken stock
3 TBS oil
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs + 1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne (how much you use depends on taste)
1 lime
salt

cheese of preference topping

Method:

Of course, first you need to prepare the black beans – I did this the day before so that I didn’t have to worry about timing.

Boil enough water to cook the chicken in – boil the chicken breasts 15-20 minutes or until done

While the chicken cooks:

Puree the peeled tomatoes
Heat 1 Tbs oil and saute the 2/3 garlic, 2/3 onion, 1/2 bell pepper and tortillas about 5 minutes
Add the pureed tomatoes, stock, cilantro, bay leaf, cumin and chili – Bring to a boil, reduce and let simmer for 20-30 minutes

The chicken should finish cooking while the broth boils.  Take the chicken out of the water and using two forks, shred the chicken.

Remove the broth from the heat and the bay leaf from the broth and puree the mixture – a hand mixer works well if you have one, but so does a blender.  Return to pot but do not place back on the heat quite yet.  At this point if the soup looks a little thick you can add a bit of water to thin it out to your liking.

Heat 2 Tbs oil in a large pan – I used a little hot oil, a nice addition if you have any – and saute 1/3 garlic, 1/3 onion and 1/2 bell pepper for 1 minute.  Add shredded chicken.  Spice with cayenne and 1 tsp chili powder.  Squeeze the juice of 1 lime onto the chicken.  Cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the beans (drained) and the corn (drained).  Cook for five minutes, stirring frequently.

Put the broth back on the heat and add the chicken mixture.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.  Don’t simmer for too long or the soup will get very thick.

Enjoy topped with shredded cheese

Other toppings you might consider: avocado, tortilla chips, sour cream

Here’s another special tidbit about the soup:  Chris made the corn tortillas from scratch.  Since he rarely writes down or tells me his recipes, I don’t have that to share with you, but a recipe should not be difficult to find. I highly suggest that whenever you have the chance to do so, make things from scratch.  Store bought tortillas, pita and bread are quite convenient, but also packed with sugar and preservatives to guarantee a long shelf life.  Making them from scratch is also cheaper than buying them packaged.  If you have the time, save yourself the money, a few grams of sugar and compounds you were never meant to consume and whip up these corn tortillas yourself.  You can even add some salt and bake them crispy for the tortilla chip topping!

Enjoy!  (And don’t forget the cilantro!)