Chicken Tortilla Soup

Preheat the oven to 475°F. With the tortillas stacked, cut in half and then into ½-inch-wide strips. Peel and mince the garlic. Small dice the queso fresco. Thinly slice the radishes and place in a bowl with cold water. Cut the lime into 6 wedges. Pit, peel, and medium dice the avocado. Squeeze the juice from 2 lime wedges over the avocado to prevent browning. Roughly chop the cilantro leaves. Peel and small dice the onion.

Coat a sheet pan with a thin layer of oil. Add the tortilla strips to the sheet pan and toss to coat in the oil. Bake 10 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring halfway through. While still hot, season the baked tortilla strips with salt.

While the tortillas bake, in a medium pot, heat a couple teaspoons of olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the chicken breasts and cook 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until browned and cooked through. (Loosely cover the pot with aluminum foil to help the chicken cook through faster.) Transfer the chicken to a plate, leaving any drippings in the pan. When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken with 2 forks.

While the chicken is cooking, toast the chili pepper. Using tongs, place the dried chili pepper directly on the oven racks. Bake 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until just warmed through. When cool enough to handle, slice the pepper open and remove the seeds. (Wash your hands well after doing this and avoid touching your eyes!)

In the same pot, add a couple teaspoons of olive oil and heat on medium-high until hot. Add the onion and garlic and cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the tortilla soup spice blend and seeded chili pepper; cook 1 to 2 minutes, or until toasted and fragrant. Add the cooked chicken, tomatoes, hominy, chicken demi-glace, half of the cilantro (save the rest for the garnish) and 2 ½ cups of water; season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer 5 to 7 minutes, or until slightly thickened and reduced in volume. Remove from heat and add the juice of 2 lime wedges.

Discard the dried chili pepper. Place some of the avocado, radishes, tortilla strips and queso fresco at the bottom of 2 bowls. Divide the soup between the bowls. Top the soup with the remaining avocado, radishes, tortilla strips and queso fresco. Garnish with the remaining cilantro and serve with remaining lime wedges. Enjoy!