mesquite barbequed chicken vegetable soup

Howdy from the electric soup kitchen. I hope your doing fine.

Lately, I had the idea to make some soup and here is how I ended up doing it.

First I made some soup stock using onion, bell pepper, celery, and a good sized carrot. I put it on to boil and then I went out and fired up the grill.

Normally I have been using Pecan wood and haven't used Mesquite, except sparingly, since it can overpower the flavor of the barbeque. This time I wanted some of that type of flavor so I grabbed several chunks of mesquite threw them in chimney starter device that I really love.

Now, the idea is to get some flavor but you don't want to dry out the veggies or the chicken, since that is what makes the soup taste like soup (and not water). As you can see from the top picture, I threw 3 chicken breasts, a couple of jalapino peppers, a red bell pepper, an onion, a green bell pepper, a couple of good sized potatoes (cut up), a small piece of German Sausage, some celery, and I think that was about it, on the grill. Again, don't cook everything too much, but get some grill marks and some flavor.

The soup stock was cooked, I went back and took the cooked garlick cloves, carrot, bell pepper, and onion, out of the soup stock and put them in the blender with some of the soup water. I threw away the celery since it has those fibers and I didnt want that in the blender.

This part is very important. Power up the blender and imulsify the veggies from the soup stock (not the grilled ones). Before you pour that mixture back into the soup base, make sure to strain everything else out. Then go ahead and pour the blender pureed veggies back in to the stock. That will give the soup base a little texture and color. You will like the effect so didn't skip this step.

Now take all of the grilled items and chop them up and add them to the pot.

I forgot to mention that at the beginning, I also addes some garlic powder and onion powder, as well as some black pepper and a few other spices. Use what you like.

When I took the grilled items off of the grill, I put them on a big plate. Pour the juice that drains onto the plate into the soup also.

At this point, everything is almost already cooked so just bring it to a boil and then turn off the fire and let the pot sit covered for a while to continue cooking. Spoon up a little and give it a taste to see if it needs any more spices, It probably won't.

I don't use salt in mine but there is some sodium in the celery.

I am eating a small bowl right now just to sample it for this review and I have to give it a thumbs up. It is some of the best damned soup I ever made. It has a southwestern type flavor that you wont find up in New York City.

Next time you want to impress yourself, try this recipe your ownself.

Rock on Brothers and Sisters!