Alice's Chicken in the Garden Soup

Recipe from Alice's Kitchen

This soup is a great way to use all the bounty from a summer garden. The lime juice may sound like a strange addition, but I think it really brightens the taste of the soup and makes the soup especially delicious. Serve this soup with fresh lemonade, mint iced tea or even margaritas. Af fruit sorbet would make a perfect ending to this meal. All of the ingredients can be found at Lost River Market & Deli.

Ingredients
4 peppers, chopped (a mixture is nice…green or red bell, poblano & banana pepper)
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 large white onion, chopped
4 - 5 cloves of garlic
1 heaping Tablespoon cumin seeds
2 - 3 Tablespoons peanut oil
1 fresh bay leaf or Kaffir leaf, optional
6 - 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
meat and juices from a roasted chicken **
kernels cut from 4 - 6 ears of fresh sweet corn
4 – 5 fresh tomatoes, chopped
½ cup or more of fresh cilantro, minced
juice of 1 or 2 limes
1 or 2 avocados, peeled and cut into cubes
freshly grated Monterey jack pepper cheese
tortilla chips
lime wedges

Heat a very large stockpot and add the cumin seeds. Toast the seeds until fragrant. Add the peanut oil. Add the peppers, onion and garlic. Sauté a few minutes. Drop in the bay leaf or Kaffir lime leaves. Add the broth. Bring to a boil. (You can stop at this point, cool the pot and then either refrigerate or freeze for later.) Add the chicken and its juices. Add the sweet corn and tomatoes. Simmer 5 – 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf or Kaffir lime leaves. Add the juice of one lime.
Serve the soup topped with grated pepper cheese, chopped cilantro, avocado, tortilla chips and a wedge of lime. (To make soup even heartier, serve over cooked rice.)

*If you wish, instead of using a roasted chicken, you can just put a whole chicken in a large pot. Add water and broth to cover. Add some black peppercorns, a couple of carrots and celery sticks and a large onion. Bring it to a boil, then cover and simmer until chicken is done. Remove the chicken and let cool. Strain the broth. Remove the meat from the chicken bones and tear into bite-sized pieces. Use the broth and chicken for the above recipe.