Recipe: Mole Sauce, My Style: Mole Sanchez

Mole Sauce, My Style: Mole Sanchez

From: Recipe courtesy Aaron Sanchez of the Food Network show Nuevos Chilies

Prep Time: 30 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min
Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients

1 pound guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deviened

1 pound pasilla chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deviened

1 pound ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deviened

2 Spanish onions, quartered

4 tomatoes, quartered

10 tomatillos, peeled

8 large garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 cup black raisins

1 cup dried apricots

1 cup prunes

4 cups red wine

2 tablespoons Mexican oregano

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns

5 cloves

2 large cinnamon sticks

1 gallon chicken stock

2 sweet plantains

Vegetable oil

1 piece Mexican chocolate

5 corn tortillas

Serving suggestion: beef, lamb, or chicken

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Begin by placing all the dry chiles on sheet tray and toasting them in hot oven for 2 minutes until they start to let off an aroma, remove quickly and submerge them in bowl with hot water. Set aside.

Preheat the broiler.

Place the onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, and garlic on sheet tray and allow until roast and allow to char in a salamander or broiler and the vegetables have roasted for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the prunes, apricots, and raisins with the red wine and allow to cook for 10 minutes or until the fruit has absorbed all the wine and set aside.

In hot pan, toast all the spices, turning quickly as not to burn them. As soon as you see them smoking, remove, grind in a spice grinder, and set aside.

To start assembling the mole combine the chiles, roasted vegetables, red wine-soaked dry fruit and the spices in large heavy bottom pot. And add the chicken stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile peel the plantains and slice into 1-inch thick slices. In a saute pan with 3 inches of oil, fry the plantains until golden and add to the pot as well as chocolate and tortillas cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree the sauce until smooth. Serve with chicken, beef, or lamb.

Recipe: Rich Chocolate Cake with Fluffy White Frosting

Rich Chocolate Cake with Fluffy White Frosting

Yield: 16 servings from 13x9-inch cake or 8-inch 3-layer cake.

From: Good Housekeeping Great Baking: 600 recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, pies and pastries, published 2003

This is a great cake for birthdays; it’s easy and has a Mexican Chocolate Spice version.


Ingredients for cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

4 large eggs

Fluffy White Frosting


Directions: Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan or three 8-inch round cake pans. Line bottom/s with waxed paper; grease and flour paper.

In medium bowl, stir together four, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In measuring cup, mix milk and vanilla.

In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar and butter until blended. Increase speed to high; beat until creamy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (mixture may appear grainy).

Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until batter is smooth, scraping bowl occasionally with rubber spatula.

Pour batter into prepared pan/s. Bake 40 to 45 minutes for 13x9-inch cake, 30 minutes for 8-inch cake layers or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. With small knife, loosen sides of 13x9-inch cake or 8-inch layers from sides of pan; then invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare Fluffy White Frosting. Frost side and top of 13x9-inch cake; or use to fill and frost layer cake.

Makes one 13x9-inch cake, 16 servings or one 8-inch 3-layer cake, 16 servings.

Nutritional analysis per serving of 13x9-inch cake: about 355 calories, 5 grams protein, 54 grams carbohydrate, 15 grams total fat (8 grams saturated), 2 grams fiber, 87 milligrams cholesterol and 365 milligrams sodium.



Alternate Version of Cake: Mexican Chocolate Spice Cake

Prepare batter as for Rich Chocolate Cake but use only 2/3 cup milk and add 2/3 cups strong black coffee; add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves with flour mixture. Bake and frost as directed.

Rich Chocolate Cupcakes

Prepare batter as for Rich Chocolate Cake. Line (36) 2 1/2 –inch muffin-pan cups with fluted paper liners. Pour batter into prepared pans. Do not bake all cupcakes at once. Bake only as many as will fit on center rack of oven. Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Repeat with remaining batter. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans to cool completely. Frost tops of cupcakes with Fluffy White Frosting or desired frosting. Makes 36 cupcakes.

Each cupcake: 155 calories, 2 grams protein, 24 grams carbohydrate, 6 grams total fat (4 grams saturated), 1 gram fiber, 39 milligrams cholesterol and 160 milligrams sodium.


Fluffy White Frosting

2 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

¼ cup water

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions: In top of double boiler, or in medium stainless-steel bowl, set over 3 to 4 quart saucepan, over 1-inch simmering water (double boiler top or bowl should be about 2 inches from water), with hand-held mixer at high speed, beat egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup and cream of tartar until soft peaks form and temperature reaches 160° F. on candy thermometer, about 7 minutes.

Remove double boiler top or bowl from saucepan; beat mixture 5 to 10 minutes longer, until stiff peaks form.

Makes about 3 cups.
Nutritional analysis per Tablespoon: about 15 calories, 0 grams protein, 4 grams carbohydrate, 0 grams total fat, 5 grams fiber, 0 milligrams cholesterol and 5 milligrams sodium.

Harvest Moon Frosting variation:

Prepare as above but use 1 cup packed dark brown sugar in place of white sugar. As to nutritional analysis this frosting is 20 calories.