ISLANDS TORTILLA SOUP

The entire process for making this soup, which Islands serves in “bottomless bowls,” takes as long as 3 hours, but don’t let that discourage you. Most of that time is spent waiting for the chicken to roast (up to 90 minutes—although you can save time by using a precooked chicken, see Tidbits) and letting the soup simmer (1 hour). The actual work involved is minimal—most of your time is spent chopping the vegetable ingredients. This recipe produces soup with an awesome flavor and texture since you’ll be making fresh chicken stock from the carcass of the roasted chicken. As for the fried tortilla strip garnish that tops the soup, you can go the hard way or the easy way on that step. The hard way makes the very best clone and it’s really not that hard: Simply slice corn tortillas into strips, fry the strips real quick, then toss the fried strips with a custom seasoning blend. The easy way is to grab a bag of the new habanero-flavored Doritos, which happen to be similar in spiciness to the strips used at the restaurant. Simply crumble a few of these chips over the top of your bowl of soup, and dig in.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS (1½ CUPS EACH)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 to 5 pound whole roasting chicken
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 16 cups (1 gallon) water
• 1 medium Spanish onion, diced (2 cups)
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
• 2 medium carrots, diced (1 cup)
• 2 Anaheim peppers, diced (¾ cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tablespoon)
• 4 6-inch yellow corn tortillas, diced (1 ½ cups)
• Juice of 2 large limes (3 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

TORTILLA STRIPS

• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 6 6-inch yellow corn tortillas
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ¾ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt

GARNISH

• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 avocados, diced

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Rub the chicken with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the chicken breast-side-up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast the chicken for 70 to 90 minutes or until the temperature in the center of the breast reaches 160 degrees. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it cool, but keep the drippings in the roasting pan.
3. Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle, tear the meat off the bone, discarding the skin but keeping the bones. In a soup pot, add the chicken bones to 16 cups of water. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to a rapid simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes while preparing the veggies.
4. In a large skillet over medium heat, spoon a tablespoon of fat from the roasting pan. Saute the onion, peppers, carrot, and garlic in the skillet for 10 minutes over medium/low heat.
5. After 30 to 45 minutes of simmering, remove the chicken bones from the water. Add the sauteed vegetables, chicken meat, lime juice, salt, chili powder, and cayenne pepper to the pot. Simmer the soup for 1 hour, adding the cilantro to the pot after 30 minutes.
6. While the soup simmers, heat up 2 cups of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan. Cut 6 small corn tortillas in half and slice them into ¼-inch strips. Test the oil by dropping in one strip. If it bubbles rapidly, it’s hot enough. Fry half of the strips at a time for 4 to 5 minutes or until they become crispy. Drain the fried tortilla strips on paper towels. In a small bowl, combine chili powder, paprika, cayenne, and salt for the seasoning. Toss the tortilla strips with the seasoning in a large bowl until coated.
7. Serve each bowl of soup topped with a couple of tablespoons of shredded Jack cheese, a couple of tablespoons of diced avocado (one-quarter of an avocado), and a handful of tortilla strips on top.

TIDBITS:

• Home-roasting a chicken is easy, but if you want to save a little time you can just as well use one of the precooked whole chickens usually found in the deli section of your market. If you go that route, just pick up the recipe from step #3.