Chipotle Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 6 lb. roasting chicken

1 32 oz can chicken stock

1 cup coarsley chopped celery (Save all veggie trimmings for stock)

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup sliced carrots

2 medium onions coarsely chopped

1 cup corn kernels

1 16 oz can diced tomato

1 cup chipotles in adobo sauce

1/2 tsp thyme

cracked black pepper to taste

salt to taste (I use heavy chinese soy sauce)

Roast chicken in oven till done, cool overnight.

Debone chicken and save all the bones & scraps. Cut meat into bite size bits removing fat & gristle. Refrigerate.

In a large stock pot add bones and carcass as well as veggie peelings, carrot butts and onion skins etc and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 to 3 hours, skimming and stirring occasionally.

Strain through a collander and add stock back to pot. Add celery, bell pepper, corn, onions and carrots as well as the canned stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until veggies begin to turn tender. Add chicken and canned tomato.

While soup is coming back to a simmer, take about a cup of it and put in a food processor with the chipotles & adobo. Whirr it up for about 30 seconds or untill the peppers are well pureed. Add salt, pepper and thyme to the soup, then start adding the chipotle puree about a quarter cup at a time, stirring and tasting for the desired pungency. Using all of it makes for a chileheads delite, but may be too much for some gringos to handle!

This makes a big old pot full which would probably serve 20 or 25 people. Good for freezing and serving at a later time.

You could use all canned stock and one of those rotisserie chickens from the store, but my life is dull and I got nothin' better to do...

Got the idea for this after sampling a couple bowls of a regional style soup in New Mexico, just substituted Chipotles for the green chiles: