Friday, July 20, 2007

Pollo En Molé

I'm sliding easily into the rhythms of beach life. Although the slowness of my daughter's laptop tells me she is due for an upgrade before she dives into 3rd year of medskool.

Usually our main meal is lunch. I'm paying for this beach time by performing at night, so the evening meal will be barfed up before I go on. I mostly make it something like a peanut butter sandwich or another thing that won't be missed.

INGEDIENTS

One whole chicken
one jar of prepared molé sauce
one half a sleeve of Maria's Gamesa wafers
one half disc of Arbeulita® or Ibarra® chocolate


The day before, take and wash the chicken well. Remove the giblets and either discard the liver or give it to the cats. Put the neck, gizzard, heart and the whole carcass in the crockpot or other slow cooker and cover with water, add onion, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low setting until the chicken legs feel loose and you're certain that the chicken is completely cooked. Put the whole thing into the refrigerator.

The next morning, take the chicken out and pick off the fat and remove any onion or other vegetable chunks. Cut the chicken into pieces and put it back in on top of the broth. Put it back on low setting.

Take one half of the jar of prepared molé sauce. I am a big ass fan of homemade but the prepared molés do a very adequate job without the forty'leven ingredients and the eighteen pans and the four days of standing there in the kitchen drudgery. Call me a pussy. I don't care. Put that into a saucepan with about half a cup of the chicken broth. Add in one half of the chocolate disc and whisk over a low heat until the sauce is smooth.

NOTE: There are passionate discourses about the superior qualities of both Arbuelita® and Ibarra® chocolate. The arguments are about the same as the Coke/Pepsi debate. If you can tell the difference enough to have a preference then, by all means, follow your preference. I use the one that I see first.


Take half a sleeve of the Gamesa wafers and put them into a sauté pan with a little splash of oil over a medium flame until they are toasted dark brown. It won't hurt a thing if they get a wee bit scorched but try to get them off the heat before they turn into charcoal. Put them in a blender with a touch of olive oil and make a paste. Stir this paste into the molé.

Now put this into the chicken and broth, stirring until it is smooth and completely bathes the chicken parts in sauce. Reduce the heat control on the crock pot to its lowest setting.

Serve over rice with plenty of tortillas on the side.

3B's

9 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I so agree with you about the mole'. I made it once and most likely won't do so again since the jars you get in Mexican markets are so tasty. I have never added the chocolate or wafers to it. I have the Ibarra and will hae t find some Gamesa and try it your way.

12:43 PM  
Blogger Sherry Pasquarello said...

i've never had it but it sounds really good.

12:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

DAMN.....................

- oddjob (who has never made one, but vividly and fondly remembers the few times he's had a mole dish in a restaurant!!!!)

1:34 PM  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

the word from the beach was pretty much the same as yours oddjob. . .

DAMN!

i am basking in good feelings and approval right now but there is a promised pilgrimage to fashion valley where medskoolgirl intends to worship at the shrine of manolo. . .SHOOOZ! OMIGAWD! SHOOOZ! (these shooz cost five hundred dollars, buy 'em!)

SHOOZ!

2:08 PM  
Blogger nunya said...

Ibarra, MMMMMM.

Criminy mb, my kid's first words; SHOOZ!

ps, keep going inland, off of I-8, the shooz become more affordable
:)
At Nordstrom's the Rack in Snottsdale I bought a pair of Doc Martin's for $25, yeah, they got the foofee shooz too

3:55 PM  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

we're hitting the viejas outlets soon. . .

i've tried to keep my kids away from label and status stuff, but, those fucking manolos, there really isn't any substitute. to see the girl put them on, stand a little straighter, move with a little more confidence, well, shit, it's worth it for me.

4:06 PM  
Blogger nunya said...

What, no Manolos at Nordies?
(Sorry, I proudly wear the ugliest shoes on the planet---Birks,and I have a ratty pair for the beach)

You're totally on track with the prepared mole, just the recipe gave me a headache. In San Diego, any old grocery store will do for that. Mexican market? WTF?

7:10 PM  
Blogger Liz Blondsense said...

Sheesh. What daddy's won't do for their daughters.

6:56 AM  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

i refuse to be associated with children or animals that i am not allowed to spoil shamelessly.

7:51 AM  

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