My Grandmother Nina's Chicken Mole

  Faye and I have joined forces with two of our friends to do a “Freezer Meal Exchange” every 4 to 6 weeks. What this entails is everyone in the group cooks and freezes a meal for four for every member of the group. These freezer meals come in handy during the busy work when we you don't have time to cook.

I admit, I was a bit skeptical about the concept when it was presented, but honestly it is the best thing ever!  Not only do we get to eat amazing food from awesome cooks, but we also get to try recipes you never would have considered otherwise, and to top it off we get to spend quality time each month with our girlfriends for the exchange lunch.  It really is a win-win situation!

Another great thing that has come out of this cooking adventure, is the time I get to spend cooking with my mom.  I have wanted to do this for some time now, but really have not had the time. The Freezer Meal Exchange has given me the perfect vehicle to do this! Finally, I am able to actually cook with my mom and get her recipes to share on the blog instead of just sitting at the dinner table and enjoying her delicious food.  It’s been difficult through the years to get actual measurements from her since her recipes always involved "a pinch of this", "and handful of that", "should look like this", or "I don't know, it just make it". Honestly, that is years of experience talking.  Since starting this club, we have been able to cook 3 of her recipes together and hopefully more to come! 

  As for this week’s recipe, it's my Grandmother Nina's Mole recipe. What is Mole? It’s a sauce that is added to chicken. It varies in flavor and technique depending on the part of Mexico you were raised.  Traditional Mole takes lots time, lots of ingredients (including chocolate) and lots of love to make. My Grandmother’s recipe is a simplified version, probably due to raising a big family in the mountains of Mexico.  After my Mom married my Father, her Mother-in -Law (my Grandmother) taught my Mom how to make her version of this spicy goodness called Mole since my Dad loved it. so much  I have grown up on this Mole since I was a child and it is delicious!  Rich and flavorful, not spicy, just a mild chile flavor that you will definitely enjoy. It it definitely worth the time to make!

 This Chicken Mole dish was a hit with the Freezer Meal Club so make a big pot of it and freeze the rest for meals throughout the month (if it makes it to the freezer!)

  I really hope you give my Grandmother Nina's Mole  recipe a try and that it becomes a well loved traditional meal for your family, just as it is for ours.

Happy Cooking everyone!       

    

Grandmother and Grandfather in the 1940's

Mom 2012

Grandma Nina's Chicken Mole
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For Chicken soup:

1 cut up fryer, or 8 thighs or 4 chicken breast cut in two

½ of a medium onion

2 peeled garlic cloves

½ teaspoon pepper

8-10 cups of water

3-4 tablespoons chicken flavor bouillon

For Mole Sauce:

¾ cup Flour

¼ cup California chile powder

¼ cup Paprika chile

8 ½  cups of the chicken broth (from soup you made)

Directions :

Add chicken, onion, garlic, pepper, and water to a large soup pot. 

Bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add chicken bouillon and reduce heat to medium-high

     Cook for about 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

For the Mole Sauce:

1
     Using a large soup pot set heat to medium.  Add flour and toast.  (to toast flour, just continue to stir. It will become a nice light caramel color).  Once done, set aside and cool for 10 minutes

     Mix together, California powder, paprika with ½ cup of the chicken broth. Set aside.

     Once the toasted flour has cooled, put back on stove at  high heat. Whisk in 2 cups of the chicken broth, continue to add the remaining 6 cups of chicken broth.  Bring to boil.

     Once it is boiling, add the chile mixture you had made.  Whisking it in, reduce the heat to medium.

     Add the cooked chicken pieces and cook for another 8-10 minutes.

           Serve with Mexican rice  and warm corn torillas.

MEXICAN RICE

FREEZER MEALS READY TO BE FROZEN

Chicken Stuffed Chile Rellenos with Roasted Tomato Sauce

If you’re looking for an alternative to the traditional Chile Relleno, this is a great recipe to try. For those of you that didn’t grow up in a traditional Mexican family, a Chile Relleno is a stuffed chile. In the traditional recipe, the chiles are filled with cheese, coated in a flour mixture then dipped into an egg wash and fried. Even though those are tasty, you have to give this recipe a try. My Aunt Conchi, who has been a great source for recipes, gave this one to me over the weekend. The concept sounded interesting and I wanted to play with the idea and see what I could do. I gave the sauce a twist by roasting the tomatoes and adding the root vegetables (shallots and garlic). Also, the original recipe only used evaporated milk, but I added the whipping cream and broth. I also added chicken to make it a heartier dish. The end result was fantastic! The sauce is absolutely delicious. The roasted vegetables gives the sauce a bit of sweetness which is wonderful. For you vegetarians out there, you can easily change this recipe to vegetarian by omitting the chicken and adding a vegetable base for the sauce. I bet it would be just as good. Happy cooking everyone!

Ingrediates:
1-2 cups of shredded chicken
6 Anaheim Chiles
6-8 strips of Mexican Queso Fresco ( or a fresh Mozzerella would work also)
1/4 cup of crumbled Queso Fresco (or Mozzerella cheese)


Roasted Tomato Sauce
4 Roma tomatoes
2-3 shallots  (peeled)
1 garlic clove (peeled)
1 tablespoon Vegtable oil
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 chicken flavored boullion cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch


Preheat oven to 450 degrees


1. Coat Chiles, Tomatoes and shallots with the one tablespoon of oil and place on a 11x14 tray.

2. Place in oven and set timer for 10 minutes.  After first 10 minutes, take tray from oven and flip all the vegtables. Put tray back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.

                                                                    (after 10 minutes)

                                                             (after 20 minutes)

3.Take 3 wet paper towels, and wrap the chiles as soon as the come out of the oven in the towels. This will make it easier to remove the skin. Set aside for 15 minutes before you start peeling.  Also, set aside the tomatoes, scallots and garlic in a bowl to cool.

4. Once the chiles are cool , it is time to start peeling.  Pull at the skin to creat a hole.  The skins should easily come off.   Place de-skinned chile on a plate and  remove the skins from the remaining chiles.

  5. Once all the chiles are peeled, take one of the chiles and cut off the top.  Then make a slit from the top to the bottom on one side (do not cut all the way through). Taking a butter knife, remove all the seeds.  Repeat the process on all the chiles and set aside.

6. Take the cooled tomatoes and start peeling off the skin. This is a bit more difficult than the chiles, just take your time till all the tomatoes are peeled (ok if a little skin is left on).

7. Once all the tomatoes are peeled, take the tomatoes, shallots and garlic and put in the blender.  Add the evaporated milk, whipping cream , boullion  and chicken broth. Blend for 1-2 minutes until the sauce looks creamy . Pour sauce in a small saute pan.  Add corn starch and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

                                                    

8. Prepare a 2 quart casserole dish by spraying oil on it.  Take one of the prepared chiles and place on a plate.  Put one strip of cheese and cover with shredded chicken. Add two tablespoons of the sauce.  Pull the ends together to cover and place open side down in casserole dish.

9. Pour the remaining sauce over chiles and sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of crumbled Queso Fresco.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Serve with Rice. Enjoy!