Eat Me: Tortilla Soup

Just when I thought I had my take on Kenny Shopsin -- admire his philosophy but his recipes are kind of disgusting -- last night I made his chicken tortilla avocado soup.

Shopsin writes at length in Eat Me about his contrarian soup-making technique. He doesn't believe in long-cooking to meld flavors. In brief: "My soups are actually sautes floating in broth." 

Sautes floating in broth. 

Scraps floating in dishwater?

I don't know. I did not find this concept appealing.

I made fresh chicken stock to give Shopsin's soup the best possible start in life. (And I really, really hate making chicken stock, an aversion bordering on repulsion.) 

Then I grilled a couple of chicken breasts, cut them into strips, and added them to a pan in which I'd fried some cabbage, onion, and peppers. Put in some black beans, cilantro and the broth, simmered for a couple of minutes and poured over a bowl of tortilla chips. Adorned with avocado. 

Sensationally delicious. 

Here's Shopsin: "I stole the idea for this soup from the Mexican restaurant at Epcot Center. Surprisingly, the food there was pretty good. I guess you could say that is my specialty: taking pretty good food and stealing it under the assumption that if I were to do a few things differently, it could be really good." 

It is.

Ugly, though.