Oaxacan Black Mole with Braised Chicken Thighs

Mole is an acquired taste, especially a dark mole like this one, which tends to be more spicy and intense than a red or green version.   When I first tried mole, I hated it.  But, I eat a vast amount of Mexican food, and am pretty much obsessed with Mexican regional cuisine... so I never gave up on it completely.

Now that I've developed a taste for mole, I respect it.  So much so that I was teaching mole classes over the summer!  The word really just means sauce, and there are literally thousands of different preparations.  It is usually rich, spicy and complex, full of seemingly out of place ingredients that pair surprising well together.

This recipe is no exception, so don't freak out when you read the list of ingredients!  I've made this particular mole negro about 20 times and it is one of my favorite recipes.  It isn't difficult to make, just a bit time consuming, but well worth the effort.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:
2 1/2 quarts water
4 cups chicken stock
3-4 lbs bone-in chicken thighs
2 onions, quartered
6 peeled garlic cloves
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 poblano peppers
4 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 plantains, sliced
1/8 cup golden raisins
2 slices bread, toasted
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup rum
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon oregano
2 peppercorns
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional garnishes:
Additional sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, sour cream, chopped onions




Directions:
Brown the sesame seeds in an ungreased skillet. Transfer the seeds to a blender or food processor and add the dried guajillo chiles, poblanos, and tomatoes. Add 1 cup of chicken stock to speed the blending. Blend together well, then strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. Discard any thick residue that remains. Transfer the blended ingredients to a large pot.

In the same skillet, divide the oil and cook in several batches the nuts, peppercorns, and seeds, onions, garlic, plantains, raisins, and bread. The onions, garlic and nuts should be lightly browned and the plantains should be soft. The raisins should brown slightly.

As the ingredients are cooked, transfer them to the blender and puree, adding stock if necessary, then straining and adding to the pot. Repeat until all of the ingredients have been cooked, strained and added to the pot, adding the peanut butter into one of the last blender mixes. Add any remaining chicken stock, rum, cocoa powder, seasoning and bay leaves to the pot and bring to a boil. Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Reduce the heat, add the chicken, and let the mixture simmer on medium for 60-90 minutes, or until the chicken is soft and falling off the bone.

At this point, taste the sauce.  If it is too bitter or not quite flavorful enough, you can add either vinegar or sugar, or both, to balance the taste.   Add very lightly, then taste, so as not to ruin the sauce.  Lime juice is another option to intensify the flavor.  If the sauce is too spicy, adding more water or stock can work, or you can serve it with sour cream to cut the heat.  Either way, give it one more final taste and season with salt, if necessary, before serving.

Serve warm, with rice and or beans, and garnished with cilantro, lime wedges, onions and/or sour cream, if desired. Enjoy!

Sloppy Joe Sliders

 

This is a relatively healthy version of sloppy joes, perfect for a mid-week meal.  Not very glamorous, but what do you expect on a Wednesday night?  If desired, you can substitute ground beef, but the sauce is tasty enough that it tastes just as good with turkey (and I think the texture is better!).

Ingredients: 

1 pound lean ground turkey
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Buns (your choice!)

Directions:

In a skillet over medium heat, brown the turkey, then drain any grease.  Add tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and spices; mix thoroughly.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, until sauce has thickened.  Season with salt and pepper and taste - add more cayenne or sugar if necessary.  It should be sweet and spicy!

Tips:

Serve on toasted hamburger buns or mini Hawaiian rolls, which have a nice sweetness.  Toasting the buns will stop the sandwiches from getting soggy.  Enjoy!

Baked Potato Bar

This is less a recipe than a fun idea for something to do with leftover chili!  This creates a lot of options for different types of eaters - for instance, I had broccoli, turkey chili, and sour cream on my potato. Kyle had butter, Velveeta cheese sauce, turkey chili, bacon, and regular cheese.  You can see a photo of his heart attack meal below.


Ingredients:
Baked Potatoes
Butter


Suggested Toppings:
Sour Cream
Bacon
Chili
Velveeta Cheese Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Broccoli


Directions:
Make sure to bake the potatoes in the oven. Yes, you can make them in the microwave in a fraction of the time, but the skins won't be crispy and the potato won't be as delicious.  It takes about 50 minutes to bake them in the oven.


For the Velveeta cheese sauce, you will simply need to slice off a cube of that strange, oddly jiggly substance, and melt it in a sauce pan with some milk.  For my cheese sauce, I used about half a block of Velveeta and 1/2 a cup of milk, which made an unnecessarily enormous quantity of cheese sauce.  So, you might want to try using l/3 or 1/4 of the cheese block and less milk.  The cheese sauce can also be used on the broccoli by itself.


For the bacon, I simply cooked it until it was crispy, drained it on paper towels, and crumbled it.  And as far as the chili, everyone has their own recipe for that, so you are on your own there.


Kyle's loaded potato - a masterpiece of cheese:

Chicken Enchiladas

• This recipe is very flexible - you can add more spices, change up the protein (it's really good with shrimp as well), make it vegetarian, and/or add pretty much as much cheese as you like.
  
•  
• Recipe:
  
• 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pint sour cream (or cream cheese, whichever you prefer)
• 2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 12 (1 pkg) corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook the chicken in a little olive oil & spices (garlic, coriander, salt, pepper, and chili powder), and about 1/3 cup lime juice.  Reserve the cumin for later.  Cook the chicken to about medium rare because it’s going to go in the oven and you don’t want it to get dry.

Then, get a bowl and mix the cheese with either one 8 oz container of sour cream OR one 8 oz package of cream cheese (if using cream cheese, you’ll need to either let it soften or nuke it in the microwave for a few secs, before you’ll be able to stir it into the cheese).   Then mix in the chicken.

Get another bowl, pour in two cans of tomato sauce.  Add the cumin, an additional pinch of salt, garlic powder, and pepper. 

Take the corn tortillas and warm them in the microwave for just about 30 seconds.  This will stop them from breaking when you roll them up.  You may need to do this several times as they get cold fast.

Take a corn tortilla, dip both sides in the tomato sauce, and then fill with the chicken cheese mixture, roll it up, and place it in a baking pan.  Do that until the pan is full.  Your hands are going to get really messy!  Then, pour any remaining sauce over the top of them, sprinkle the cup of cheddar cheese on top, and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour, or until it gets a little brown on top.