{"id":56,"date":"2010-12-18T07:38:49","date_gmt":"2010-12-18T14:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therealfoodchronicles.com\/?page_id=56"},"modified":"2016-04-23T19:50:25","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T01:50:25","slug":"cocoa-iron-chef-night-chicken-mole-poblano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stormysweitzer.com\/recipes\/cocoa-iron-chef-night-chicken-mole-poblano\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocoa Iron Chef Night: Chicken Mole Poblano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week presented a new Iron Chef Night (ICN) challenge, and a good reason to finally make mole (pron: mo-lay), something I\u2019ve shied away from for years because of a childhood memory.\u00a0 I don\u2019t actually know if I ate mole that didn\u2019t taste good or if the combination of flavors just sounded horrible to my undeveloped palate.\u00a0 Either way, I haven\u2019t ventured a taste since, despite having the famous-for-their-mole Red Iguana<\/a> restaurant just 5 miles from my door.<\/p>\n

\"DecMole\"<\/p>\n

Hosting our most recent ICN,\u00a0 though, made me turn to this most obvious of cocoa-infused entrees.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I did \u2013 both for the experience and the flavor.<\/p>\n

To find some of the ingredients I needed, I went to the Mexican grocery store down the street.\u00a0 I really wish I\u2019d been to this store sooner.\u00a0 The yucas and tiny Mexican limes, home-made corn tortillas, dried chiles and fresh pineapple, cinnamon sticks and little burro bananas I plunked down onto the checkout conveyor belt were just a sample of what I would have bought if I thought I could use it before it spoiled.\u00a0 And, if I could eat it, the pan dulce, tres leches, and tortas might have also made it in my basket.\u00a0 This store has definitely made it onto the regular shopping rotation.<\/p>\n

For the chocolate, I used Endangered Species\u2019 Supreme Dark Chocolate.\u00a0 ES\u2019s products are certified gluten free and a lot of grocery stores seem to carry their chocolate in the health food aisle.
\n\"Chicken<\/p>\n

Having never made mole before, the last thing I wanted to do was experiment.\u00a0 I found a recipe from the Food Network\u2019s Tyler Florence<\/a> that sounded good.\u00a0 The only deviations I made from the recipe were to double it and to cook the completed mole sauce, broth, and browned chicken in a crock pot on high for 4 hours, rather than simmer them for 20 minutes on the stove.\u00a0 The chicken was so tender that it came apart when I spooned it onto white rice.\u00a0 Mmmm.<\/p>\n

Despite thinking I would need 2 times the recipe, I wound up with 4 cups leftover.\u00a0 I filled 2 quart-sized freezer bags\u00a0 with 2 cups of the mole sauce (without broth) each and froze them.\u00a0 Given the amount of time it took to prepare the sauce, I\u2019m much more likely to try it again now that I can just toss it in the slow cooker with the chicken and broth.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of the evening\u2019s fare:\u00a0 Yum!<\/p>\n