This one turned out to be really good and worth the effort. I stuffed roasted Poblano peppers with the goat cheese mixture which included ACTUAL nopalitos because I just happened to find them at the market here. And I woulda put money on not being able to get them in Boston ! I can't say I enjoyed peeling them of their prickles, but once I started it wasn't all that difficult. So, I ended up with a huge pot of mole and twice as much goat cheese filling as I actually needed so I have been eating it every day since.
Mole Poblano (adapted from Vegetarian Epicure)
3 oz. dried ancho chiles
3 oz. dried pasilla chhiles
2 oz. dried mulato chiles
3-4 cups water
2 cups peeled tomatoes in their juice
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp anise seeds
4 Tbs toasted sesame seeds
1 cup blanched almonds
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup white grape juice or apple juice
1 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate
Remove stems and seeds from chiles, wash them and put in pot with water, tomatoes. onions, garlic, and salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 30 minutes. Add water as needed to keep chiles covered. Puree everything in several batches in a blender or food processor and return to pan.
Grind the coriander and anise, add sesame seeds, almonds and pine nuts and process until nuts are ground, then add in raisins and process until a sticky paste forms- scrape out and add to chile mixture.
Add vegetable broth and juice, stir and bring to a simmer. Add chocolate broken into bits and stir to melt. Add more broth to bring consistency to that of cream. (I found I needed to reduce it for another 30 minutes or so.)
(As you can see it's not very labor intensive, the big problem is simply gathering the ingredients. This recipe makes probably 12 good servings and can be frozen in smaller batches- the tub I gave you is about 1/3 of the batch) Glad you liked it.
The filling for the Poblano peppers was as follows:
6 large Poblanos, roasted in oven for 15 minutes, outer skin removed, slit open and seeds and stem carefully removed
1# fresh goat cheese
3 eggs
1 2/3 cup fresh corn kernals
1 2/3 cup cooked nopalitos (cactus pads) or substitute chopped cooked zucchini. The nopalitos are a real pain to deal with- the thorns have to be taken off and they have to be peeled and blanched before using, I won't do it again because they don't taste like all that much!)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
3 Tbs shopped green chiles- Ortega are OK
salt
melted butter
Cool the peppers before stuffing with cheese mixture, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Cover with mole sauce and reheat in oven 30 minutes or until bubbly. (You could also wrap the cheese in a tortilla, roll it up and place seam side down in a baking dish. Drizzle with butter and cover with mole just before heating in oven for 30 minutes. Make the peppers a up to a day ahead, make the tortillas just before heating them in the sauce.
So, today is day three of my new mole diet- stuffed red peppers, chicken breasts, leftover poblanos- everything but spread on toast! That may be breakfast tomorrow. I also stashed a big tub of it in the freezer for some other time. And I am not sick of it yet.
And as of about 5 tonight the weekend has started. all the traffic is aimed at the Cape and my normally busy street is empty. Molly and I are battening down the hatches and have her anxiety jacket at the ready as soon as we hear a distant pop of fireworks. The remote is mine- now to find whatever they are doing as a marathon for the weekend. I have so been looking forward to this weekend! Happy Fourth of July!
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