Chorizo & White Fish Stoup

Chorizo & White Fish Stoup... it seems like as Sunday approaches each week I have a minor internal (sometimes external meaning I complain to my roommate) that I have NO idea how in the world I will come up with 4 dinners that week. And then, somehow, a menu comes together. I'd say 3 out of 4 are usually just mash ups of our favorite go- to's and usually one is unique. This week, laying in bed wide awake early Sunday AM I started thinking of what my unique item could be and I don't know where the thought flew in from but suddenly in my head I saw "chorizo and fish stoup!" (FYI a Stoup is what Rachel Ray calls a lovely dish which is neither a soup or a stew but rather... a stoup!). And so I did a quick Google search to see if such a thing made sense outside of my little head and sure enough it seemed like there were plenty of other folks on the world wide web who had in fact had the same epiphany.

After reading a few of those recipe's I knew the general gist of how I'd go about it. And then I suddenly remembered the Swanson's Mexican Tortilla Soup Broth that is to die for.

What I used:

• 1/2 lb of ground chorizo from the butcher (you could also buy chorizo in a casing and cut into small pieces)
• 1 lb white fish (I used cod and had the butcher cut it into hunks for the soup)
• 1 box Swanson's Mexican Tortilla Soup Broth
• 1 14oz can of diced tomatoes (I used ones with garlic, onion, basil for a little extra flavor)
• 1/2 diced yellow onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 3 hand fulls of chopped Kale
• 3 diced celery stalks
• Juice of a lime
• Bay leaves
• Avocado (garnish)

How to:

In my lovely le creuset I browned the chorizo in olive oil. Now this chorizo was heavily seasoned with dark spices like paprika I assume so it was  a little hard to tell when it was cooked through (browned) but I sort of guessed from texture - it took 5-8 minutes I'd say.

Once the meat was browned I remove the chorizo and let it rest in a bowl while I added a little more olive oil, the onion, garlic, and celery. I cooked the veggies until they were translucent - this was also a great way to get up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Next I added my kale and let it slowly wilt into the already aromatic mixture of diced veggies. A pinch of salt and pepper were added.

Next I added back in the cooked chorizo and 3/4 of the can of diced tomatoes. I gave it a big stir and added the lime and bay leaves. I added the entire box of stock and brought it to a simmer for about 30 minutes.

Right before serving drop in your lovely chunks of white fish, if the soup is simmering it will only take about 3-5 minutes for the fish to be cooked through.

I served it up with a wedge of lime and hunks of avocado on top. You could also use some fresh herbs like cilantro or green onion - or even something cooling like sour cream!

The stew/soup was so Dahlicious, a tad spicy but in a flavorful way... not a burn your mouth way. Hope everyone like's this twist on your regular Mexican tortilla soup!