Warm Night With A Hot Mexican

Need a hot, spicy winter soup to melt the winter ice? Then this soup with Jalapeño peppers is for you!

The mild  Mexican Jalapeño pepper, pronounced "ghal-ah-pain-yo" , provides enough heat in this soup to warm you up without running for the fire extinguisher!

Jalapeño pepper is indigenous to Mexico and was named after  the Mexican town of Xalapa, also spelled Jalapa.

The original recipe is available on dinnerdotcom. I tweaked the flavour by increasing the amount of Jalepeños, using ground coriander instead of cayenne pepper and finely chopped rather than grounded onion and garlic on the uncooked chicken. I also prefer using an organic whole chicken instead of the breasts only as it adds more to the taste and it's cheaper. The original recipe used less tomato and more garlic.  And for the topping I use a mature strong cheddar and crème fraîche instead of sour cream. The richer, dense crème fraîche add more to the taste and hold better as a garnish on top of the soup.

I also made some small changes to the methods such as the roasting of the chicken in a roasting tin to catch up more juices, that I added to the soup mixture to create more flavour. I increased the volumes to serve at least 8 people and change the order and layout of the recipe that I find work better for me.

The soup is more tasty after a day in the refrigerator, but remember to heat it to boiling point before serving it.

Here is the result of my personalised Mexican chicken soup recipe. I'm sure you'll agree it looks delicious, and just the thing to keep the cold at bay!

Mexican Chicken Soup

Ingredients 

Chicken roasting

• 1 Whole organic chicken
• Olive Oil
• Finely chopped onion 
• Garlic clove ground into a paste
• Ground coriander
• Dried thyme
• Dried oregano
• Salt
• Pepper

Soup base

• 3 Chopped onions
• 7 Carrots diced
• 4 Stalks of celery, chopped
• 9 Jalepeño peppers chopped, I use bottled Jalepeño, use less if they are fresh
• 5 Cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground cumin
• 2 Shakes of cayenne pepper
• 3 L Chicken stock
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Cans of Italian peeled tomatoes
• Handful of roughly chopped coriander

Toping when served

• Handful coriander leaves
• 2 Avocado's sliced
• Small container sour cream or crème fraîche
• Handful grated, sharp mature cheddar cheese
• 1 Lime cut in wedges

Directions

          Chicken Roasting

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Wash and cut up the chicken in pieces
3. Shake of the excess water
4. Place the chicken in a roasting tin
5. Rub chicken with olive oil
6. Sprinkle over the onion, garlic, coriander, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper
7. Roast uncovered in the oven for 40-50 min till the biggest piece of meat are fully cooked
8. Debone, de-skin and shred the chicken when cool enough to touch
9. Keep the juices to add to the soup

Soup base:

1. While you wait for the chicken to cook start with the base of the soup
2. Chop the celery, carrots and onion
3. In a large pot add about 40ml of olive oil, heat the oil and add the chopped celery, carrots, and onions, stir till caramelize but be careful not to burn it
4. Add in the chopped garlic, chopped Jalepeño peppers, ground cumin, ground coriander and cayenne pepper
5. Roughly chop the canned tomatoes and add the tomatoes with the juice to the onion mixture
6. Add chicken stock
7. Add meat juices of the cooked chicken
8. Stir in a handful of chopped coriander
9. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to keep it simmering for 20-30min
10. Add the chicken
11. Season with salt and pepper if needed

Serve :

1. The soup's taste improves if you give it 24 hours to 'settle'. That gives the flavor a chance to develop, but you might need to add a bit more water on day two.
2. Dish up in individual bowls, sprinkle over the chopped coriander, grated sharp cheddar cheese, add a dollop of sour cream, a slice of avocado and a wedge of lime on the side to squeeze over.

Serves 8

          Do  not be fooled when tasting the soup - it may taste fire-y, but the toppings that    
          you add will mellow it down.

Bon appetit or, as they say in Mexico, Buen Provecho Amigo!

6 Foodie Reasons to Visit Emerald Ireland

I can understand why the Irish are such a jolly lot. You must be a "eejit" not to love Ireland! It's breathtaking natural beauty can leave no man or woman untouched. It's from these beautiful surroundings that some of the world's best farm produce originates, which is one of the reasons I visited there recently.



Being a foodie and a travel-holic I was estatic to visit Ireland. I researched what to eat in every Irish county long before we boarded our flight to the land of leprechauns and fairies. My research went out the window as the number of days and the size of my stomach stopped me from tasting everything I wanted to sample, but here are six of my best foodie moments in Ireland.

1. Smoked salmon at the Burren Smokehouse

I was in foodie heaven while tasting the cold smoked salmon at the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare.

This is melt-in-your-mouth salmon....literally. It melts away in your mouth, and my taste buds went crazy with excitement.



The Burren Smokehouse is an award winning smoke house that supplied the banquet held for Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland - a feather in anyone's cap! They smoke organic salmon farmed in the waters of the Atlantic coast. According to the owners these farmed fish are kept in similar conditions as there wild counterparts, also swimming up inland streams to lay their eggs. These salmons, just like the wild salmon swim approximately 23 000km in their lifetimes ensuring a salmon with little fat and great taste, because their diets are controlled inside their captive environments. The way salmon tastes is, just like with any other fish, affected with what they eat during their lifetime.

The Burren does both hot smoking and the traditional Irish cold smoking. In the latter process the kiln is heated to only 35degC instead of the normal 80degC -  that way the fish don't coagulate.
Unfortunately due to health and hygiene reasons we were not allowed to see how they smoke the salmon but they did show an interesting video in the visitor centre giving more info on the smoking process.

2. Irish butter

Happy cows makes good butter! In Ireland cows roam freely and eat grass uncontaminated by pesticides and growth hormones. They produce creamy, flavourful milk high in beta carotene - that gives the yellow colour to butter and cheese as opposed to the lighter colour of butter produced by milk from grain-fed cows.

Irish butter taste better than any butter I tasted before. I ate a bit of toast every morning with my generous helping  of butter. The butter should be spread a few millimeters thick so that your teeth leave bite marks on your buttered toast - that's my rule of thumb!

It's suppose to be healthier than grain-fed cow butter due to the higher vitamin K content that helps prevent osteoporosis  and heart disease.  So eating Irish butter won't kill you, it will only make you fat and life is to short to worry about that - that's authentic Irish logic!

3. Baked goodies and the Glendalough Green Cafè in the Laragh village , County Wicklow

This cafè looks like a tired roadside farm stall from the outside and the two sisters that run it are a bit dour but do yourself a favour and stop here on your way from Dublin to Kilkenny. They do have the best almond berry cake and apple crumble...not to be missed!


If you cannot get to this coffee shop, the home baked delicacies in Ireland are all excellent - apple crumble, fruit scones, rocky roads, very buttery oats flapjacks (loved it!), salted caramel squares and many more will all brighten up your teatime taste buds.

4. Porridge with Bailleys at Garnish guest house in Cork

This smooth, rich oats porridge is definitely something I will try at home.  It's oats porridge with cream, bailleys liqueur and honey - absolutely delicious!

5. Food shopping at the English Market in Cork

The English market in Cork is a foodie must-see. Well Queen Elizabeth probably thought so during her official visit to Ireland in 2011.

It is an old market from the 19th century that shows off Ireland's top produce from strawberries, to cheeses, fish and meats. I really itched to spend time in the kitchen using their produce!

6. Monk fish tails and chips

Don't try and eat fish and chips at any old fish and chips place. On the plane to Ireland My mouth was already watering at the thought, however I was very disappointed when the fish and chips we had at most places were rather tasteless and oily. We could not believe it, so we kept searching for good fish and chips, stopping at various places on our route through in Dublin, Howth and south to Dingle.
We were ready to give up when we stopped at the Dersey island cable car where we saw a roadside stall selling monk fish tails and chips, and thought we'd give it one last try.  And I'm happy to report that we found it - good fish and chips in Ireland. Don't miss it!



I left Ireland convinced that the Irish produce some of the best fresh farm products, but generally lack the kitchen skills to turn what thy produce in the fields into culinary masterpieces. They under-season and in most cases we had to add salt to food we ordered in restaurants. That said, we ate first class meals at places like Cafe Hanz in Cashel and the New park Hotel in Kilkenny, and we were impressed many times by their home bakes. All in all, Ireland has a lot to offer foodies, and I hope to be back for more!