A new reason to bust open a bag of tortilla chips!

The last time we made chilaquiles, it was an effort to use up a few leftover tortillas that we had sitting in the freezer. I didn't have any extra in the freezer this time, so the recipe for these Chipotle Chilaquiles we made for dinner tonight came in quite handy!

Instead of using tortillas, this speedy dish makes use of some crunchy tortilla chips! To moisten those chips, canned whole tomatoes are amped up with a couple smoky chipotle peppers and buzzed together with a bit of their juices to quickly create a sauce. To further add flavor to the sauce, thinly sliced onions and a few cloves of garlic are softened in a touch of oil. The spicy sauce is poured in and allowed to bubble away to begin adding some depth to the tomatoes. Since the tortilla chips will drink up quite a bit of the liquid, chicken broth is added to thin out the mixture.

Once the chips are added, you have a couple options on how to serve this. You could simply add the few raw onions that were set aside, some shredded chicken and Asiago cheese to the mixture and combine it all to make a big 'ol family-sized pot to dish out of. We went a different route - we portioned out the sauce and chip mixture, then layered the rest of the ingredients on top. To finish our plates off, we added a bright note with a scattering of fresh cilantro and placed a dollop of tangy sour cream in the center to cool our mouths down from the chipotles. If you want to lean a little more authentic, try using some Queso añejo instead of the Asiago - this is an aged Spanish white cheese that has a pleasant salty bite.

Since there are only two of us here, I actually first scooped out two portions of the tomato sauce before I added half of the chips. This way, when we reheat our servings for lunch tomorrow, we can just heat up the sauce, stir in the chips and go from there. Eaten fairly soon after assembly, the chips in this dish soften just enough so they are not crunchy, but they are not soft or mushy either. I was afraid that if the dish sat in the refrigerator overnight that the chips would probably just disintegrate, leaving us with a tasty dish that might have had an unappealing texture.

Recipes
Chipotle Chilaquiles