Posole with Chicken and Tomatillos

This was an odd week. I was sick with a cold this Tuesday and Wednesday so Soup At Work Wednesday didn't come off at all. I do not get colds or the flu very often so I was caught off guard this week. With my wife Bertie laid up with her left foot in a cast up to her mid-calf we were a sorry pair this week at home trying to help each other. Bertie had her left ankle fused together three weeks ago to alleviate pain due to arthritis. The surgeon removed the ends of a couple of ankle bones to remove the arthritic areas and then put in four pretty long screws to hold the joint together. She'll be in a cast for another 3 weeks and then probably a walking boot. We really hope this helps with her pain while walking.

I was going to pass on making soup this week because of these circumstances but on the drive home from work today it occurred to me that with it being so cold here in Tucson hot soup would be the perfect thing to bring to work on Friday. All I had to do was decide which one to make. I usually try to bring in a new recipe because I like trying new dishes and I'm afraid folks will get tired of repeats. Since it was pretty late by the time I was going to get home I had to choose a pretty easy one. Also with it being so cold I wanted to bring in a hearty and comforting soup. Chicken noodle was a possibility but I wanted something more tangy so the Posole with Tomatillos came to mind. I pulled up the recipe on my laptop real quick in the Fry's parking lot and jotted down the ingredients I didn't have at home and ran into the store for a quick run-through.

The full recipe can be found in the September 8 entry last year. I made one change this time by roasting the tomatillos instead of boiling them. This was 2 pounds of tomatillos this time so removing the husks took a few minutes while the chicken was boiling (homemade stock and shredded chicken in the making). After washing the remaining shreds of husks off the tomatillos I sliced them in half lengthwise and spread them cut side up on a large cookie sheet. After sprinkling them with olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper I roasted them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until they softened. From this point the recipe is pretty much the same. I pureed the tomatillos with my oft-mentioned immersion blender along with about a 1/2 cup of the chicken broth.

I'm thinking seriously about putting some egg noodles into the soup in the morning, Bertie says I should go for it so we'll see how I'm feeling about it in the morning.