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| Mexican fajitas spiced homemade chicken and bell pepper soup |
I know this idea may sound a little bit strange and I can't even remember what led to me coming up with it but it was something I deliberately set out to make and was not just a spur of the moment idea for using up leftovers. What I decided to do in order to make this soup was to poach a small chicken, use half of it one night for a separate purpose and use the other half together with the broth and additional ingredients to prepare the soup on the second evening. This quantity of soup should serve four to six people.
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| Raw chicken and accompaniments ready for poaching |
Ingredients (Day One)
1 small chicken (about 3 pounds)
1 medium carrot, washed, topped and roughly chopped
Half a large white onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium strength red chilli pepper, topped and roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
Half teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
Ingredients (Day Two)
3 pints fresh chicken stock
Meat from one chicken leg, one thigh and one breast fillet
2 small (4 ounce) packs of mixed sliced bell peppers
8 ounce can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
2 teaspoons fajitas spice
1 tablespoon freshly chopped coriander
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| Freshly poached chicken |
Directions
Put the chicken in to a large soup or stock pot. Add the carrot, red chilli, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. Pour in enough cold water to completely cover the chicken. Make sure to use at least five pints as you will need three pints of the reduced liquid content for the soup. Put the pot on to a high heat until the liquid reaches a simmer. Reduce the heat, cover and continue to simmer for one hour.
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| Straining chicken stock for making soup |
Use a carving fork and a large spatula to carefully lift the chicken from the poaching solution to a large deep plate. Cover and leave for at least half an hour to part cool. Use half the chicken for any desired purpose. Remove the meat from the second leg, thigh and breast side, put in to a suitable dish and refrigerate overnight.
Allow the stock at least an hour to partly cool. Carefully strain through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper. Measure out three pints, add to a large dish and refrigerate overnight.
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| Mixed bell pepper slice packets |
On the second day, pour the stock in to your clean soup or stock pot.
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| Leftover chicken pieces for making soup |
Take a little time to make sure the chicken meat is all broken/chopped in to fairly small pieces.
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| Mexican fajitas spice |
It's worth pointing out that I bought this fajitas spice in a small pack. I opened the pack and transferred the spice to a small plastic tub where it keeps in perfect condition for a couple of months or more.
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| Solid ingredients are added to strained stock |
Add the chicken, bell peppers, tomatoes and fajitas spice to the stock. Stir very well and bring to a gentle simmer for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally.
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| Chopped coriander is added to soup |
At the last minute, stir in the freshly chopped coriander and serve immediately.
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| Chicken fajitas soup is ready to serve |
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