Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is one of my friend's favorite soups. It's hearty and hits the spot, especially on a nice cold winter night. I also like to call this one, clean out the fridge soup, since you are only limited by your imagination on what to put in it. Here's a starting point, of which I will credit Emeril for giving me the initial inspiration for this. Enjoy.

This is the first stage, how I got here:

2 TBSP olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 pasilla or poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
3 ears of corn, kernals cut off
1/2 bag of shredded carrots
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of mexican oregano
1 tsp of ground coriander
salt/pepper

saute all of the above in olive oil/butter mixture, you want them to still remain somewhat crunchy. After that:

add 1 can of diced tomatoes
I had a handful of cherry tomatoes and a couple of other random tomatoes, so I added that as well. 2 large cans of chicken broth

Let all that simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Then add 2-4 thinly sliced chicken breasts, let simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add 1 lime worth of juice, squeezed and a handful of chopped cilantro. At this point, you can thicken it if need be...I used about a cup of corn meal, but it started globbing up on me, so cornstarch might be a good option. The corn meal, made like little corn meal dumplings, that weren't horrible. I also tempted fate and added about 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream.

Tortilla strips for garnish: cut up corn tortillas and fry in oil, after they come out of the oil (golden brown) season with Emeril's Essence.

Here is the final plating, with some fresh avocado and sour cream, and a little queso quesadilla mexican cheese, which is pretty mild, Monteray Jack might be a better choice. Enjoy.