Chicken Chili Verde

Photo courtesy of the Cooking Corner.

    What happens when you combine a recipe for Mexican Chicken Stew and Pork Chili Verde? You get a flavor-filled soup called Chicken Chili Verde. This was my "dare to be different" chili for the end of football a few weeks back. 
    I wanted to try something different and so I did. Instead of the typical beef or sausage in chili, I went with chicken thighs. I thought they'd be less likely to dry out and toughen up like breasts. Also instead of a tomato based broth I mixed a chicken stock and tomatillos. And instead of a dose of chili or kidney beans, I used good old carrots and celery that are always a great base for soup. Let's just change it all up.
    This turned out to be a nice hearty soup that had many of the Mexican flavors without any heat. It's really easy to do if you skip roasting the veggies and just throw it all in the pot for a low and slow simmer.

Chicken Chili Verde
1 pkg. boneless chicken thighs, (about 9 thighs, cut into quarters)
10 tomatillos, peeled and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth/base
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
10 baby carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T. oregano
1 tsp. cumin
squeeze of lime (or lemon) juice and cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spread veggies on pan in single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and stir to coat.

Place pan on top oven rack and roast 25-30 minutes until they start to brown. Stir twice.

In a slow cooker combine roasted veggies, chicken, broth, oregano and cumin. Heat on low for 6-8 hours.

Top each serving with a sprinkle of lime juice and a touch of cilantro.

Serves 4-6.

Note - A nice side to this warm bowl of soup is a Southwestern egg roll. (For the egg roll, follow this recipe but use chorizo sausage.) http://janceys.blogspot.com/2010/09/spicy-sausage-egg-rolls.html