Inspired by our first tasty, tasty bowl of this soup at La Especial Norte in San Diego...
1 whole chicken breast or 3-4 thighs, with bones and skin
(2 qt. chicken stock... if you decide not to make your own with bone/skin chicken)
1.5 onions, chopped, skins reserved for broth
2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/8" thick
1 T. chopped garlic
1-2 T. olive oil
2 tomatoes (or 3 T. tomato paste)
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 ears corn, cut into 2" chunks
1-2 chipotles, seeds removed and chopped
1-2 t. adobo sauce (from chipotles)
1 avocado, chopped
juice of 2 small or 1 large lime
cilantro
salt
Broth: Put chicken, onion trimmings (other veggie trimmings are good too), and 1 t. salt in about 2 quarts of water and simmer at least until chicken is cooked through (I use a 6 qt. Dutch oven). Remove chicken, clean and shred it. Strain broth and return to pan/heat.
Heat olive oil in a skillet and saute onions and carrots until nearly soft. Add garlic and saute a few minutes longer; add to broth. When broth is bubbly, dunk tomatoes for 20 seconds, remove by stabbing with a fork, then put in cool water... now you can easily pull the skin off. Peel and seed the tomatoes, chop and add to pan with corn. Add chipotles, adobo, and garbanzo beans. When ready to serve, add lime juice, avocado, and cilantro. Adjust salt and serve.
I found that the timing to do all the veggie cleaning/cutting as I went worked pretty well so I didn't really worry about times for each item to cook.
