This recipe came from Rick Bayless's Mexico One Plate at a Time cookbook and I've made only a couple of very tiny tweaks. I know I sound like a broken record when I write up recipes... but this is more really tasty food (like I'd bother to record something that wasn't delicious)!
The big revelation... you can BAKE the tortilla strips in the oven! No big pot of hot, mostly-wasted, oil with no loss of delicious crispiness is always a winner in my book :-)
1.5 T oil or pork lard, plus enough to brush on the tortillas before baking (about 1 T for me)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and left WHOLE
1 small-medium onion, peeled and sliced (will get processed later, so exact thickness doesn't matter)
1 15 oz can tomatoes or equivalent amount of fresh tomatoes
6 c good quality chicken broth (I used 4 c of turkey carcass broth plus the 2 c Better than Bouillon)
8 oz "full-flavored" mushrooms, sliced 1/4" thick - Rick recommends shiitakes; I use half shiitakes/half criminis
salt
6 corn tortillas
2 canned chipotles (give or take) in adobo
4 oz goat cheese
1 large ripe avocado
Optional: leftover Thanksgiving turkey, roasted chicken, etc. if you want some protein
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Heat 1.5 T oil over medium in a 3 quart saucepan. Add garlic & onion, stirring regularly, until golden, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and remove garlic and onion to food processor bowl, leaving as much oil as you can in the pan. Add the tomatoes to the food processor and pulse to a smooth puree. Return saucepan to medium-high heat. When hot, add tomato/onion mixture and stir nearly constantly until it thickens nearly to the consistency of tomato paste, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and sliced mushrooms and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, cover (leave lid cracked open), and allow to gently simmer for 30 minutes.
While you're waiting for the soup to simmer, brush oil on both sides of all the tortillas (I used bacon fat, which I save like my Grandma Pauls did... it spread very easily with a bread knife). Cut the tortillas in half and then in 1/4" strips - a pizza cutter is excellent for this task. Dump on a jelly roll pan (baking sheet with low sides - you don't want those tasty strips escaping), separate, and put in the oven. Toss them every couple of minutes until they're crispy & lightly browned, about 10 minutes total.
Slit open the chipotle(s) and remove as many of the seeds as is practical. Lay the chipotles open on your cutting board & scrape the flesh off the very delicate/tissue-paper thin skin. Discard the skin.* Chop/smash the flesh as finely as you can... you don't want big super-spicy chunks in every 20th spoonful. (Or maybe you do, in which case, adapt!). Add chipotles to bubbling broth. Add salt to taste.
Cut the avocado into about 1/2" chunks.
Crumble the goat cheese into roughly 1/2" pieces.
Chop turkey/chicken/etc into bite-sized pieces.
When the soup has bubbled enough, put the avocado & goat cheese (& turkey..) in the bottom of four large bowls. Ladle the soup on top and sprinkle on the tortilla strips. Enjoy!
*I don't think the seeds or skin affect the heat, I just find their texture distracting. Most recipes suggest taking the seeds out, but don't worry about the skins.
