Hmmm...those chipotles sound lovely...

I'm going to take a shot at making the green bottle salsa that everyone loves--first will need a trip to Chapparita (probably Thursday) to "borrow" some to use for reverse engineering purposes. Anyone wishing to accompany me is welcome!!

fropones wrote:Why not, I'll join as well. I'm thinking either a mole - manchamanteles, verde, or amarillo (provided I can find hoja santa leafs on short notice) - or homemade chipotles in adobo. I'm open to suggestions/requests.

Excellent - and excited for any of the above. Glad you can make it! The amarillo would be awesome, but I won't pressure you. Though I personally don't know where to find the hoja santa leaves, Zarela Martinez has a proposed substitute:
http://www.zarela.com/2010/ask-zarela-w ... oja-santa/

boudreaulicious wrote:I'm going to take a shot at making the green bottle salsa that everyone loves--first will need a trip to Chapparita (probably Thursday) to "borrow" some to use for reverse engineering purposes. Anyone wishing to accompany me is welcome!!

Excited for this too . . . and wish I could accompany you Thursday, but I can't. But I'll be happy to have some of that sauce at home. All of a sudden, looks like we're all going to have a real nice fall, Mexican bounty.

I would definitely be up for this next time. I make a few hundred pounds of chaurice (a cajun version of chorizo) with family every year, usually in February. I'll definitely bring home more next time around to be prepped if you decide to do it again.

so sorry, something's come up i have to attend to on monday night, so i'll have to bow out. joan

Well, SdM won't be able to do the chiles en nogada, but still expecting a fine exchange and meal.

Couldn't decide between the mole amarillo and mole verde... so I made both

Smooth avocado based squeeze bottle green sauce done--now just need to figure out what to put it in...

Mole finished and test batch of enchaladas* made.

Steak Enchaladas W/Red Mole

* serving suggestion

Smoky peanut mole finished - not sure how I feel about the finished product yet. I'll taste it again tomorrow for a fresh perspective. I generally followed Bayless' recipe, but substituted just a little guajillo for ancho, and used a bit more chipotle than called for - hopefully not screwing with a good thing, but made these decisions having tried the mole twice at Frontera. Here's a link to the recipe.

For serving, you'll want to heat (may need whisking too if it separates some) and you may want to thicken a bit. And of course, you can further season to liking. At Frontera, I've had it with quail, although the recipe mentions pork and also suggests chicken, duck or fish. Here are a few photos, although I didn't really take any during the prep. Also, it's recommended that you sprinkle the finished dish with roasted peanuts and parsley. I thought they added cilantro at Frontera - not sure, but I will. Hope you enjoy.


Most of the ingredients



Homemade chicken stock, very gelatinous I'd say



Smoky peanut mole

Wow, look a that stock. Looks amazing. Definitely glad I didn't talk you into serving up a paste or powder instead.

laikom wrote:Wow, look a that stock. Looks amazing. Definitely glad I didn't talk you into serving up a paste or powder instead.

Yeah, I love a good stock - I needed most of it for the mole, but I still have a little extra (and of course plenty of chicken fat). And with that much gelatin, I think I'm ready to move on to XLB.

Now hopefully the mole will measure up too. Looking forward to tonight.

Really great meal and great company tonight plus a good looking stash of sauces. From the very tiny tastes I took of each one everything seems excellent and I'm very excited to use them all.

Thanks to everyone who put so much effort into making their sauces. I'm really going to enjoy working my way through them all. Sorry I ran off so quickly after the exchange, but I was feeling a little under the weather.

Teresa and I just finished up dinner where we did a mole sampling. I have to say this was a huge success, thanks for organizing this BR!

I've been very busy, and didn't have time to cook up a meal properly, so we cheated and picked up a rotisserie chicken from costco for $4.99. Add on some el milagro tortillas, cilantro and onion, and it's still the best meal I've had for under $10 for two people, plus leftovers! All of the sauces were great and very different from one another. I really loved them all, but wanted to give special recognition to fropones' mole verde, and Jazzfood's mole poblano, those two seemed to disappear quite quickly.

Now that I've sampled them all, I can't wait to plan a real meal around each one. I'm sure with the right pairing, they will all really come to life.

Well, I've managed to get through a good portion of my bounty. I had friends over and prepared some rice with cilantro, braised pork shoulder, roasted chicken, store bought tortillas and even a coconut tres leches cake for dessert. It was a huge hit and my friends were very impressed with everyone's efforts - debates over which we each preferred, but that's the beauty of it . . . they're all so different. But all of the moles/salsas were terrific and made for a great feast. Best of all, plenty of leftovers and more mole in the freezer. A big thanks again for joining in and for all of your efforts.

Just finished up a late dinner of seared lamb leg steak, and whipped up a pan sauce in the juices, then added SteveZ's mole in a ratio of about 2/3 mole to 1/3 pan sauce. Then I added a lot of ground up rosemary (I learned on wikipedia that rosemary is added to mole during holidays). And man, this was one tasty dinner! Thanks Steve!