Tortilla Soup with Lots of Garnishes (Food Matters Cookbook)

I recently read the Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman. The cookbook is supposed to complement Bittman's other book Food Matters which I assume is much like Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. All three books are about eating in a manner that is personally and environmentally health-conscious.
In this particular cookbook (unlike HCE and WBR), practically all the meat dishes contain a mere 8 ounces of the unpractical substance per 4 servings. I have no problem eating vegetarian meals, but at least this initial dish selection left me wanting for more.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces bone-in chicken thighs or beef chuck steak (or use brisket, shank, even sirloin; cut it into chunks)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 large onions, halved and sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 small corn tortillas, roughly chopped
• 1 dried hot chile (like chipotle or milder ancho)
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 2 limes, 1 of them juiced, the other cut into wedges
• 1 cup crumbled tortilla chips, for garnish
• 2 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped, for garnish
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions, for garnish
• 1 cup shredded cabbage, for garnish
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
• 2 avocados, skin and pits removed, sliced, for garnish [I had rather unripe specimens, but they added, at least, textural contrast?]
• 1 cup thinly sliced radishes, for garnish [As previously noted in this blog, I love radishes as a garnish or side dish to Mexican food. However, I didn't remember that the ones I had had gone bad.]
• 1/4 cup sour cream, for garnish
• 2 or more fresh hot chiles (like serrano, Fresno, or jalapeno), chopped, for garnish

Oh 8 ounces of chicken only amounts to one bone-in thigh.


Cook onions and garlic over medium heat until they soften and begin to turn golden.


Yup.


Add the tortillas, dried chile, and oregano. Apparently this was supposed to come together like a paste in 3 to 5 minutes, but I didn't achieve that.


Return chicken to pan, add 6 cups of water, bring to a boil, and cook until the meat cooks through.


In the mean time, prepare the gigantic amount of garnishes.


The dish all gussied up.
I felt the soup was a bit harsh at first but mellowed out over the next couple of days. The large amount of vegetables were nice (though Dan L didn't utilize them much). This particular recipe doesn't really make my heart sing, but perhaps I'm more likely to try a different take on the dish at some point. One with more than one chicken thigh in it most likely.