Tales of Two Chefs….

Last Wednesday we entertained family for dinner. Liv was home from Paris for a couple weeks and we got to spend a fun evening with her and her family. Of course, Eric had to prepare a classic and fantastic french dinner. (I made the salad) The menu was, Cognac scented Cream of Mushroom Soup, Coq Au Vin & Tuna Nicoise Salad. It was delicious. We even had an exquisite french bread with plugra (the best butter in the world…of course, it is European.) It was wonderful! I’m so lucky to get spoiled by these meals once in while!

Maybe it’s because it was a blustery Sunday or I felt a little competition on the culinary home front… I had to fire back. I decided to spend the afternoon preparing one of my favorite meals (and specialties…) I spent some time in Oaxaca Mexico and was introduced to a very special cuisine! With the help of my three little prep cooks (Sophie is too young yet, she is still just a taster) Miles, Olivia, Keena & I created a delicious, authentic Mexican dinner.. Dad was suprised!

Roast Chicken with Mole Coloradito Oaxaqueno served with roast corn, black beans & rice.

Sounds simple….sort of…

The Mole sauce is quite time consuming and has a long list of ingredients., the chilis used are dried chiles…you can find them at La Unica in Moorhead or most grocery stores in the Mexican Foods section ..trust me, try this… it is worth it! The kids were soooo  excited to present it to Dad and we had a super fun afternoon cooking together. They were also amazed by preparing each portion of this recipe and then seeing it all come together. Very fun family project!

This recipe is from Susan Trillilng from Oaxaca Mexico. If you like it..I encourage you to check out her cookbook: “Seasons of my Heart, A Culinary Journey through Oaxaca Mexico. It is full of many wonderful authentic recipes.

Mole Coloradito Oaxaqueno

Makes 8 servings

6 cups chicken stock

18 ancho peppers, stemmed and seeded.

21 chiles guajillos, stemmed and seeded.

2 black peppercorns

2 whole cloves

1 whole allspice

1 piece of Mexican cinnamon about 1 inch long

1/2 small head of garlic, cloves separated

1 small white onion, quartered

1 pound ripe tomatoes, quartered

1 sprig oregano or 1/2 tsp dried

2 tbsp plus 1 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 ripe plaintain

1/2 French roll, sliced

1 tbsp raisins

5 whole almonds

3 tbsp veg oil

1/2 cup sesame seeds

2 bars Mexican chocolate (3 oz each) or to taste

Salt to taste

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. On a 10 inch dry griddle (or saute pan) over low heat, toast the chiles on both sides for about 10 minutes. toast the anchos a bilt slower and longer than the guajillos because of their thicker skins. Toast them on both sides until their skins start to blister and they give off their aroma. Remove the chiles, place them in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak the chiles for 20 minutes, turning to soften them. Puree in a blender, using as little of the chile water as possible, about 1 cup. Pass the puree through a sieve or a food mill to remove the skins.

In another dry saute pan, toast the peppercorns, cloves, allspice and cinnamon stick. Add the garlic and onion, turning often until they become translucent. Cool them and puree in a blender with 1/2 cup of chicken stock or water.

In another saute pan over medium heat, cook the tomato pieces and oregano with no oil until condensed. 10 to 15 minutes. First they will give off their juices, then they will dry out. Puree the tomato mixture in a blender, then pass the mix through a sieve or a food mill.

And again, in another saute pan heat 2 tbsp of the oil and fry the plaintains and bread slices until brown,about 12 minutes. remove from the pan. Add more oil if needed. Fry the raisins until they are plump, about 3 minutes. Remove them from the pan. Fry the almonds until light brown, about 4 minutes. Remove from the pan. Place the plantain, bread, raisins, and almonds in a blender with 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth and blend until smooth. Wipe out the frying pan, put over low heat. Add 1 tsp of oil and fry the sesame seeds and fry until brown, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool the seeds and grind in a spice grinder (I use a coffee bean grinder dedicated to spices)

In a heavy stockpot, heat 1 tbsp oil over high heat. Add the chile puree a little at a time, stirring constantly. It will splatter about a bit, but keep stirring. Lower heat to medium and after about 20 minutes, or when the chile puree is thick, add the tomato mixture and continue to cook about  10 minutes, stirring constantly. (this is when it helps to have a few prep cooks who like to stir) Add the onion and ground spice mixture and stir well. Add the plantain mix and the ground sesame seeds, stirring constantly so it does not stick and burn. Add 4 1/2 to 5 cups of chicken stock to thin the sauce, then add the chocolate, stirring constantly. When the chocolate dissolves, add the salt. Let it cook down for 30 minutes orso, stirring occassionally. The more time it has to cook the better. The mole sauce should be just thick enough to coat a spoon.

Serve with chicken, pork, turkey etc… when you add the sauce, it should completely cover the meat.

We served ours with black beans, roast corn & rice with some fresh corn tortillas on the side. Any leftover mole sauce is excellent later with tacos & enchiladas or on some scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Shortcut: there are a few good mole pastes in the Mexican section at your closest supermarket or at La Unica in Moorhead. We like the brand, ”Dona Maria” These create a decent product by just adding chicken stock and a few tbsp of paste. However there is something really fun about trying this from scratch (at least once!) and it REALLY is much better.

Enjoy!