Warriors Soup: in which I let Family and Fans down

I'll start with the appropriate apology.

Warrior Fans, mea culpa. I'm sorry.  The Warriors lost it in game 7, because I failed.  I failed to get off the sofa.  I failed to get in the kitchen. I failed the team, the fans, my family because I chose not to make the soup.

In my defense, I've been making the soup since the OKC Thunder series, where I diligently made soup, passed it to friends and family, made them eat it, which definitely allowed the team to come back from the 3-1 deficit.  I hustled in the kitchen just as much as the Warriors hustled to bring home the Western Conference victory.

But I'll be the first to admit that I became lazy.  That I didn't take responsibility.  I didn't take ownership and I relaxed into that 3-1 position that the Warriors and I earned.  And I stopped taking ownership of the soup. And I did make soup that time to bring home that 1 victory in Cleveland, but afterwards I just didn't put the same fire and power into soup making (I was getting pretty tired of eating it, truth be told) and I simply just stopped believing in the soup.  Once I stopped believing in the soup, there was nothing to bring it back to full ability to win the series.

So, it is with sad and heavy heart that I ask for your forgiveness, and beg you to once again, consider the power of this soup, and that next year we will bring home victory, you, Warriors, and me.

Begging for your "soup-erstitious" forgiveness,

Joanne

Aside from its championship winning powers, this soup is a fantastic way to use up leftover bbq ingredients as well as random items you have in the fridge.  Somehow, like the amazing Warriors bench on their best days, this soup uses up things you don't know quite what to do with.  The magic ingredient is smoked paprika, which lends a subtle backnote of unity to the ingredients.  It comes together quickly (depending on what you have at your disposal) and like the Warriors ever rotating lineup, you can quickly change out ingredients in this soup, based on what you have available.

Warriors Soup

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ cups diced onion

1½ cups diced carrots

1 teaspoon salt

2 quarts chicken broth

2 cups tomato salsa (any flavor) or 2 cups fresh tomato puree, or 14.5 oz canned tomatoes pureed

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 cups cooked chicken (leftover rotisserie, leftover bbq, or you can add uncooked chicken breasts)

3 cups corn kernels (either fresh, from cooked corn on the cob, or from can, rinsed and drained)

1 14.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup cilantro, chopped (optional for the cilantro dislikers)

Method

Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, onions, and carrots, salt and cook until onions are slightly wilted and carrots are brighter in color, about 5 minutes.  Add chicken broth, smoked paprika, and garlic and bring to boil.  Once soup is boiling add chicken. (**If you’re using uncooked chicken, add it one soup is boiling and simmer on low for 20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.  Remove from soup and shred/chop and add it back to the soup.) Add corn and black beans and simmer until everything is boiling again.  Sprinkle cilantro.

Serve hot with corn chips and a game of Warriors basketball.

Printable recipe

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