Another Sore Throat, Another Sopa De Lima

I was hemming and hawing over whether or not to post this recipe, when I had a revelation. if I don’t find it weird to provide you with 8 zillion chocolate chip cookie recipes–and similar numbers for lemon bundt cakes, vanilla bundt cakes, blondies, peanut butter cookies, I think you get the point, then why do I feel so weird about posting yet another version of a sopa de lima?

Maybe it is because they all come out of my head, rather than me testing other people’s recipes? Who knows, but you know I got home from Pittsburgh, exhausted, and I had all these plans for different meals but 2 things have interfered: potty training and a really bad sore throat. You don’t want to hear about the first–this IS a food blog–but as far as the second I know you are all wondering: “Didn’t she just have strep throat?” Why yes I did and apparently I now have a virus. Sheesh! Hopefully it will be gone soon.

But you guys know that when I am sick I want soup–preferably spicy and preferably sour and always brothy. As always, I worked with what I had around–which meant I used kidney beans and Great northern white beans when I might otherwise have chosen black and it meant when the pork stock ran out I made fresh chicken stock out of bone-in chicken breasts I had in the freezer, first roasting and shredding them. And, most important in terms of what made this a little different, I used a sweet potato I had laying around in stead of serving with tortilla chips, which gave the soup a faintly sweet taste underlying the sour and spicy. Maybe it’s the virus speaking, but I found it really, really tasty.

Sweet Potato & Tomatillo Sopa De Lima

1 large red onion, chopped
1-2 T olive oil
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
1 large sweet bellpepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground New Mexico Chile powder
1 large sweet potato (the orange kind), diced (I do not peel)
homemade stock, about 64 oz–I used a combo of chicken and pork stock
8 oz chopped tomatoes (about half a can, drained a bit)
1 cup roasted and pureed fresh tomatillos (I used frozen from last summer)
2-3 cans’ worth beans–either cooked and drained or canned, drained and rinsed
1 bag frozen corn, preferably organic, or equivalent fresh
1 1/2 cups shredded roasted chicken
1/2 – 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I used some frozen cubes and am unsure of amount–choose amount based on how sour you like your soup)

For garnish:
sour cream
monterey jack cheese
salsa verde

Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven on medium high heat and add the olive oil to heat it to shimmering. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno and bell pepper and cook another 3 minutes. Add the spices and the sweet potatoes and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the tomatillos and cook another minute or 2. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover and cook until sweet potatoes are tender (10-30 minutes, about, depending on how cooked the sweet potatoes got from the frying and how big the dices are). Add the lemon juice and taste for saltyness, sourness, and seasoning in general. Add the beans, corn and shredded chicken and return to a simmer. Serve with sour cream, salsa verde and monterey jack cheese.