ingredients:

• bacon (optional. i usually use 3-5 slices if i use it, i get lazy. not too fatty, sliced real small. if i don't use it i sometimes use bacon fat since i have it around, or it's fine to omit altogether if you don't have/like/eat it)
• butter (i have been known to put an entire stick in here. but i like my soups kinda greasy, use as much as you like to saute things in)
• onion (i use yellow or white, whatever. i haven't tried reds but i bet that would be good? use as much as you want, if i use pre-chopped/frozen i go closer to half an onion, but i hate having half an onion left over when i chop it)
• garlic (3-5 cloves. or more. i use the frozen puree too, i guess you could use jarred but i don't like jarred lol. i wouldn't recommend relying only on powder but it'd still be good)
• potatoes (i use a bag of baby golds but whatever u got works. personally i like to remove about half the skins to mash those in for texture but thats optional. i have also used ready made mashed potatoes and that was awesome, as was frozen cubed hash browns, but those leave less potato chunk in the final product - good for freezing, less good if you want the potato to stand out)
• corn (frozen corn works great. fresh corn is tedious. canned corn is probably fine. i go for a bag and a half to two bags frozen. i have used half frozen roasted corn and it was sublime i use that whenever i can find it)
• broth/stock (i usually use chicken and sometimes some vegetable/garlic. enough to submerge everything else by half an inch or so, its usually more than a regular box in which case i use water and bouillon paste to get enough)
• seasonings (chicken bouillon. cayenne. arbol. guajillo. cumin. thyme. rosemary. sage. onion powder. garlic powder. a tiny bit of cinnamon. sometimes green chile, sometimes a splash of white wine or lime juice. salt and pepper. go crazy have fun get spicy)
• flour & heavy cream to thicken (like 1/4 cup flour and enough cream to make a paste about the consistency of pancake batter. i suppose you could do this with a starch? but i don't like starch texture so i have not attempted this)
• cheese (i almost always use the tillamook shredded blend with pepper jack and cheddar but that is a regional product! use whatever texmexy cheese you want, but not the kind with taco seasonings in it. unless you really want that idk its your soup)
• toppings (green onion. fried onions. sour cream or crema. hot sauce. crushed tortilla chips. all optional but fun!)

instructions:

1. mise en place. chop bacon, onion, garlic, and potatoes if needed. gather the rest of the ingredients.
2. if using bacon, saute on medium-high until mostly cooked.
3. lower heat to medium, add onion and butter. one more butter pat than you think you need. cook with bacon until ACTUALLY browned and caramelized, a long time. 15-20 min+. get a little snack or smthn for the wait. stir less frequently to start, more as they sweat out to avoid burning.
4. add garlic, stir. i usually turn off the heat here instead of worrying about the garlic burning.
5. add potatoes, corn, and seasonings. stir. dump the stock in on top.
6. pressure cooker: manual high pressure for 5 minutes, natural release for 15, quick release the rest. stovetop: simmer it, until the potatoes go soft.
7. mix heavy cream and flour, stir into soup. add cheese. turn the heat on if its off and simmer until it comes together and any flour lumps are gone.
8. taste and adjust seasonings! you're done!

ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs fresh green chiles (anaheim, poblano, hatch, jalapeno - keep it green but pick what’s available/in your spice tolerance range. don't use bell pepper for this part. i try for a mix of them all)
• 1 lb tomatillos
• 2 onions, one quartered and one diced
• head of garlic
• neutral oil
• 4 cups chicken broth (i used 1 box and then added 2 cups of water and bouillon)
• butter
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeño, deseeded and minced (you can leave the seeds if you want but this gets plenty spicy in my white but spice appreciating opinion)
• 2 spring onions, sliced, whites and greens separated (or scallions/green onion. i prefer the stronger onion flavor here)
• ground cumin, ~1.5 tbsp
• ground coriander, ~2 tsp
• white pepper
• black pepper
• green chile powder (or cayenne), 1 tsp
• 3-4 chicken breasts or thighs (your preference. ive used both individually and as a mix, all is good, thighs will always add more fat)
• 2 29 oz cans of white (navy, cannellini, mayocoba) or pinto beans (i use mayocoba and pinto. you can use dry beans if you wanna but i sure don’t, soaked beans will need to be cooked twice as long - double the time for pressure cooking in step 9 or the simmer in step 10)
• fresh cilantro (or not if you have the soap gene. however my dad has the gene and he devoured this soup without asking so maybe try it idk)
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 16oz block pepper jack, shredded or crumbled (i mean shred it if you want but i get lazy and break it into chunks right into the pot)
• toppings: extra cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, cilantro (up to you!)

instructions:

chile + vegetable roasting

1. set your oven to broil on high. place whole chiles, tomatillos (skin side up), quartered onion, and peeled garlic cloves onto a foil lined sheet pan. rub all with oil on all sides. salt well.
2. broil for 15-25 minutes, turning chiles and onions every 5 minutes or so for full coverage, until chiles are blackened on all sides and the skins are wrinkled. tomatillos will have probably burst open, onions should have some nice dark spots. gather up the foil or cover pan with more foil and let them steam themselves for 5 minutes.
3. after resting, pour half (2 cups) of chicken stock into a large bowl and place the whole chiles in it. peel them under the broth, the flesh should easily come loose. leave stems, seeds, membranes behind in the broth to marinate.
4. place chile flesh, tomatillos (skin on, i remove the stems but i dont think you need to. scoop up the burst flesh from the pan too), broiled onions, and garlic into a blender or food processor. blend until it becomes a mostly smooth puree. it should kinda smell like salsa or enchilada sauce here. set aside.

soup production

5. melt butter in a large pot/pressure cooker on medium heat. sauté bell pepper, chopped onion, minced jalapeño, and the white parts of the spring onion until lightly browned and fragrant.
6. add cumin, coriander, white and black pepper, and chile powder. cook for about 30 seconds to bloom. pour in roasted chile puree and stir until incorporated.
7. strain chicken broth into the pot, squeezing out the pepper remnants for extra flavor.
8. add beans and chicken to the pot. add broth as needed to keep all submerged.
9. if using pressure cooker, seal it and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. on stovetop, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until chicken reaches 150°F, also about 15 minutes.
10. remove chicken from pot and place in a bowl to cool. if cooking on stovetop, continue simmering beans for 30 minutes. for pressure cooker, turn on the saute function to simmer and continue, the beans are fine.
11. take a ladle and get a scoopful of cooked beans. place them in a blender/food processor. add a handful of fresh cilantro leaves and half a lime’s worth of juice. blend until pureed, add back to pot and stir.
12. shred chicken to desired size and add back to pot. add other half of lime’s juice and the cheese, stir until melted. season to taste with salt, plus extra bouillon, chile powder, garlic, lime juice as desired.
13. serve! top with the green spring onions. also good with extra cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips if you have them. yay soup

ingredients:

• butter (a lot)
• 6-8 ribs celery, sliced or diced
• 6-8 carrots, half diced and half sliced
• 1 onion (yellow, white, sweet, whatever you like)
• 1 leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced (rinse well! leeks are sandy. discard dark green tops or save for something else idk they just go to my compost)
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 8oz mushrooms, diced (did you know white button, baby bella/cremini, and portobello mushrooms are the same species at different levels of maturity? get whatever you want)
• 6-10 cloves garlic, minced (like half a head. or whatever you want but this isn't meant to be super garlic forward)
• flour (for thickening. don't sub a starch this is a roux)
• 1.5 lb potatoes (as with the corn chowder, these are mostly for thickening, i like to skin most of them. the skins don't freeze well. frozen hashbrowns would work here too)
• 2 boxes chicken broth (or equivalent water and bouillon)
• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts or thighs (you could also use cooked rotisserie chicken. add it after the carrots have cooked, in step 8)
• seasonings (salt and pepper, white pepper, sage, rosemary, thyme, summer savory, fennel, bay leaves, poultry seasoning, smoked paprika, nutmeg. more bouillon. whatever sounds good i know i put more than this in here)
• frozen peas (you could do more frozen vegetables too, corn and green beans are good)
• heavy cream
• a splash of apple cider vinegar or white wine (this desperately needs an acid balance trust me. lemon juice could be ok too)
• puff pastry (frozen is great. i don't enjoy making puff pastry so i don't)

instructions:

1. melt butter over medium-high in a large soup pot or pressure cooker. add onion, celery, diced carrot, leeks, and shallots. saute until soft and starting to brown, 10-15 minutes. make sure to salt during this step!
2. stir in mushrooms and garlic. cook until fragrant, just a minute or two
3. sprinkle flour over mixture and stir well, it should stick to the vegetables and create a roux base. cook for a couple minutes to brown the roux.
4. add about a quarter of the broth and stir well to melt the roux into it. scrape the bottom of the pot to get the fond too.
5. add the rest of the broth, the sliced carrots, the potatoes, the chicken, and the spices.
6. if on stovetop, raise heat to medium-high to bring pot to a rolling boil. reduce heat and simmer until chicken is done through and carrots and potatoes have softened, about half an hour. for pressure cooker, set it to high pressure for 12 minutes, and natural release for 15. turn saute on low after lid is off.
7. while soup is cooking, prepare puff pastry for baking according to package instructions. cut it into a preferred shape, i like triangles, and bake according to instructions.
8. back to soup. remove cooked chicken and place into medium bowl. shred into bite size pieces and return to soup. if using pre-cooked chicken, add it here.
9. add peas and heavy cream, stir. add vinegar or wine, stir again. taste and adjust seasonings.
10. serve with puff pastry dippers. enjoy!