| Here's one of my favourite new soups from, ‘Where There's Food, There's Firefighters.' When lunch time is tight and I'm not willing to compromise on flavour, this is my go-to soup recipe. Quick and easy, yet amazingly flavourful.
 TACO CHICK SOUP
This is a great fire hall soup because, save the marinating time, it comes together in a flash but tastes like it's been simmering for hours. It's so flavourful that you likely won't even need to do the standard salt-and-pepper tune-up before serving, as the salsa takes care of all the seasoning you'll ever need. Olé!
ROUND UP THE GANG
• 2 pounds chicken or turkey thighs (or breasts if you prefer)
• Cuban Lime Marinade (at the tail end of this recipe)
• Butter
• 1 medium or ½ jumbo onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 carrots, sliced thin
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 orange or red pepper, also diced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 medium jar (3 cups) salsa—I love the smoky chipotle salsa
• 19-ounce can kidney or black beans, rinsed
• 11-ounce can peaches-and-cream corn
• Sour cream, cilantro and taco chips, for garnish
AND TAKE A CHICK TO LUNCH
Marinate the chicken in Cuban Lime Marinade for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight, to maximize flavours. If you're Speedy Gonzalez, then simply season with a healthy shot of Fired-Up Santa Fe Spice instead. (see the bottom of the page)
Barbecue or broil the thighs over medium heat until cooked through.
Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. You measured everyone's mouths ahead of time, didn't you?
Toss the butter into a soup pot over medium heat and get the onions in there, frying them up until caramelized, or, in blue-collar layman terms understood best by people like me, slightly browned.
Pull the celery and carrots from the on-deck circle and toss them in.
Season the veggies with salt and pepper and fry until tender-crisp.
The peppers are wanting in on the veggie-fest, so acquaint them with the others and fry briefly, just long enough to slightly soften and flavourize.
Pour in the chicken broth, salsa, beans and corn. Bring your soup to a simmer and get the cooked chicken in there to round out the line-up.
Heat the soup through for at least 15 minutes to combine the flavours - as usual, the longer the meld, the better the soup will be.
Ladle the soup into bowls. Place a dollop of sour cream in the centre of each bowl, stand the taco chips around the inside rim and sprinkle chopped cilantro over top. Talk about presentation! Is this a high-class Tex-Mex restaurant you're running here, or what?
 CUBAN LIME MARINADE
I originally used this as a pork marinade, but I soon discovered that it rocks with chicken as well. Cuba isn't exactly located in the southwest, but the flavour of this marinade sure screams New-Mex, Tex-Mex!
FOR EVERY 2 POUNDS OF MEAT, USE
• 10 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• 1 cup lime juice—fresh is best, but I'll accept the bottled stuff
• 1 / 3 cup extra-virgin olive oil Mash the garlic with the salt and add the oregano, cumin and cayenne. Whisk in the lime juice and olive oil. Marinate away!
FIRED-UP SANTA FE SPICE
• 2 tablespoons paprika—sweet, if possible
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic—roasted, if you have it
• 1 tablespoon cayenne
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon dried (leaf) oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground or restaurant-style black pepper
• 2 teaspoons onion powder Simply combine all of the above together and store in a spice jar.
| 
