tortilla soup

Tonight's dinner was pretty great! It's from the cookbook "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
• 6 corn tortillas (stale are fine) cut into 1/2 in. strips -- I used whole wheat tortillas, b/c I had leftovers from making them last week.
• Salt
• 2 fresh chiles (I used poblano)
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced (I used 1 T. garlic from the jar)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes OR one 28-oz. can
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch dried oregano
• 1 quart water or vegetable stock (I used vegetable broth)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges for garnish
• 1 c. fresh cilantro for garnish (optional...I didn't use it)
• Cheese for garnish
• Avocado for garnish
• Sliced radish for garnish (didn't use it)
• Shredded carrots for garnish (didn't use it)

Directions:

1. Heat the broiler. Heat the oil in a saucepan over med-high heat. When oil is hot, fry the tortilla strips until golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels, season with salt, and set aside.
2. Discard all but 2 T. of the oil (I saved a bit more). Turn the heat to medium and cook the garlic and onion, stirring occasionally until golden and softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, arrange the tomatoes and poblanos in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and broil a few inches from the heat until charred on one side, then flip them over with tongs and char the other side. **If you are using canned tomatoes, just broil the peppers**
4. Skin, stem, and seed the chiles.
5. Add tomatoes and chiles to the pan with the onion and garlic and crush the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano; add the water/broth/stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes, crushing the tomatoes from time to time.
6. Cool the soup slightly. Use an immersion blender or upright blender to puree the mixture until smooth. Return to the stove over medium heat, stir in fried tortillas, and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Season to taste with slices of lime juice, salt, and pepper. Garnish with any of the options, and serve!

This was a winner! It took about an hour to prepare, but was really easy. It was kind of a catch all of stuff I still had around the house--stale tortillas from last week, a bag of almost empty cheese, an almost-too-ripe avocado, 1/2 box of opened broth I had from last week...it was a great fridge clean out :) Jason really liked it, too, so it's getting a book mark from me!