Turkey Mole Poblano

At this point Thanksgiving should be a distant memory. But if you still have some lingering turkey leftovers in your freezer, I can recommend a turkey mole poblano. The meditative process of roasting all the chiles, seeds, and nuts that go into this elaborate sauce can be an escape from the frenzy of the holiday season.

I always crave something spicy after the mild flavors of Thanksgiving fare, and we often make Mexican dishes with our turkey remains. This recipe for turkey mole poblano is from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. I also consulted Rick Bayless' recipe but wasn't quite up to all the straining involved. Instead I happily embraced the slight grittiness of the various purees (above from left to right: chocolate and corn tortillas, chiles and tomatoes, and nuts and seeds). The recipe made enough to freeze away a batch of sauce and still have plenty to drench our turkey leftovers. We dined on turkey mole tacos with a side salad of kale, roasted delicata squash, black beans, and avocado, as we started to discuss our Christmas wish lists. 

Turkey Mole Poblano

adapted from The Border Cookbook

Mole sauce (makes enough for two batches)

12 ounces whole dried red chiles (a combination of anchos and pasilla)

6 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 cup pepitas

3 Tbsp neutral oil such as canola

4 cups stock (turkey, chicken, or vegetable)

6 garlic cloves

14 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

2 stale corn tortillas, torn into pieces

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably Mexican)

1 tsp ground canela or other cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

shredded cooked turkey (3 cups for half of the sauce recipe)

1. Break the stems off the chiles and remove the seeds. Toast the chiles until fragrant in a large, heavy skillet, turning frequently, and transfer to a bowl. Cover with two cups of boiling water and allow to rehydrate.

2. In turn, toast the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, pepitas, and almonds until fragrant and transfer them to a blender. Then toast the garlic cloves until soft. When cool enough to handle, peel them and add to the blender. Add one cup of stock to the blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

3. Next add the rehydrated chiles to the blender, along with the fire roasted tomatoes, and 1 cup of the rehydration liquid from the chiles, strained through a strainer. Blend these until smooth and add them to the bowl with the nut and seed puree.

4. Add the quartered onion to the skillet and cook until slightly charred on all sides. Place these in the blender along with the corn tortilla, the chocolate, the cinnamon, and 1 cup broth. Blend until smooth and add to the bowl with the other purees.

5. Heat a deep Dutch oven over medium heat and add the oil. Spoon in the sauce and fry while stirring continuously (it will splatter) for about ten minutes. Add the remaining broth and continue to cook for about 30 minutes. Depending on how much turkey you have, at this point you could reserve a portion of the sauce to freeze for a rainy day.  Add the shredded turkey and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Serve the turkey mole with warm tortillas, over rice, or bake into enchiladas. Enjoy. 

Turkey Stock Tortilla Soup

With Eugene blanketed in snow, it seemed like a good day to make soup. I unearthed the carcass of our successfully spatchcocked Fair Valley Farm turkey, which I'd tossed in the freezer after we'd polished off all the leftovers and turkey sandwiches we could eat, and simmered it for a couple of hours with some celery and parsnips I found in the crisper.

The resulting flavorful turkey stock formed the basis for a delicious tortilla soup, based on a Rick Bayless recipe. This soup starts with a puree of rehydrated pasilla chiles, roasted garlic, onion, and tomato, that is then fried in oil to deepen the flavors. This is then diluted with stock into a deep red, fragrant soup. The best part is in the serving, when you pile on crispy strips of fried tortilla, creamy avocado, sharp radish, and plenty of grated cheese that melts into this bone-warming soup.

Turkey Stock Tortilla Soup

adapted from Rick Bayless, serves four

soup
4 to 5 medium (about 1 1/2 ounces total) dried pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded (also called chilles negros)
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 or 4 roma tomatoes or one small can of tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted 
1 medium white onion, peeled, halved, and sliced 1/8 thick
3 Tbsp of vegetable oil for the soup and more for frying the tortilla strips
6 cups turkey broth (see below), or substitute chicken broth
salt to taste

toppings
4 to 6 corn tortillas, cut into strips, fried in vegetable oil until crispy, and salted
shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack
1 bunch radishes, julienned
1 or 2 avocados, diced

1 large lime, cut into wedges

1. Seed and stem the chiles. Toast them in a hot, dry skillet for a few moments, until fragrant, and then soak in boiling water until softened, at least 15 minutes. In the same hot skillet, toast the garlic cloves until soft and slightly charred. Peel and place in a blender jar. 

2. Heat a large soup pot. Add 2 Tbsp oil and saute the sliced onion until it becomes nicely browned. Squeeze the onion against the side of the pot to leave as much oil behind as possible and transfer to the blender jar. Add the tomatoes and the drained rehydrated chiles. Blend until smooth. If you like, you can pass the puree through a strained to ensure that the soup is free of any seeds or chile bits.

3. Reheat the soup pan and add the remaining Tbsp oil. Add the chile puree and stir continuously as the mixture thickens and darkens. Add the turkey stock, bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Taste and add more salt as needed.

4. Serve the soup warm with all of the garnishes for everyone to add as they wish. Enjoy.

turkey stock 
1 turkey carcass
a few stocks celery and a carrot, parsnip, and onion or two

In a large stock pot, cover the turkey carcass with cold water (about four quarts), salt generously, and start heating. Coarsely chop the vegetables and add to the pot. Bring the pot to a simmer, lower the heat, and simmer for about two hours. Allow the stock to cool a bit. Strain and reserve. My batch yielded about 3 quarts of stock.

Two Chilis for a Crowd

With the holiday season in full force you may find yourself, as I did recently, with a crowd of guests to feed. My strategy was to cook up a couple pots of chili. One, a vegetarian bean chili, used up the last of my supply of heirloom beans from Lonesome Whistle Farm just in time for the start of their new CSA season (you can admire the variegated hues of Calypsos, Rio Zapes, Jacob's cattle, and Ireland Creek Annies above and read an interview with farmers Kasey and Jeff here). The other chili, for the carnivores in the crowd, was inspired by a recipe from the Homesick Texan. 

The first step was to make a chile paste. This might seem like a lot of work, but it's actually quite easy and one gets to savor the fragrance of toasted spices while transforming a prosaic pile of dried chiles into a thick, exotic concoction. I followed a similar recipe to this one, with toasted garlic cloves, cumin and fennel seeds, cinnamon, cocoa powder, sun dried tomatoes, and a selection of dried chiles including milder anchos and negros, and spicier guajillos.

For the beef chili, I cooked up 4 slices of bacon and then browned 4 pounds of cubed beef chuck (from Long's) in the drippings. Then I sauteed some onions and red pepper, combined in half of my chile paste, the beef, I bottle of dark beer, and 1 cup of coffee, and cooked the whole pot, covered, in a low oven for 5 hours. I must admit to a moment of panic when I tasted the chili at the end of the day and found that it was extremely spicy (I'd used a lot of guajillos), but thankfully, the heat mellowed overnight and the chili was delicious the next day with a cool and crunchy slaw (sort of like this one, but with a buttermilk dressing).

For the bean chili, I combined the remaining chile paste with a can of tomatoes and simmered the bean pot along side the meat. This chili also had a hefty kick to it, but was tempered with a generous dollop of sour cream. We had plenty of food for a crowd and more to enjoy for family meals during the week. 

Toasted chile paste

(enough for one of these chili recipes)

12 dried chiles (for medium spiciness use 4 anchos, 4 negros, and 4 guajillos; for more heat increase the proportion of guajillos)

12 sun dried tomato halves

6 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Heat a skillet and toast the chiles about one minute on each side until they puff up and become fragrant. Also heat the garlic cloves, still in their skins, until they start to blacken. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the stems and seeds from the chiles and immerse them in 2 cups hot water, along with the sun dried tomatoes. When the garlic cloves are done, peel them and put them in a blender. Toast the cumin and fennel seeds in the skillet until fragrant for about half a minute and add these to the blender, along with the cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt. Spoon in the softened chiles and tomatoes. Add the soaking liquid, strained. Blend until you have a smooth paste.

Beef Chili

(Adapted from Homesick Texan, served 10-12)

4 thick slices of bacon

4 pounds cubed beef chuck

fresh ground pepper

salt

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 red pepper, seeded and diced

1 recipe toasted chile paste (above)

1 cup coffee

1 bottle dark beer

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1. Heat a large Dutch oven and cook the bacon slices until the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon slices, dice and reserve.

2. Generously salt and pepper the cubed beef. Over medium heat, brown the cubed beef in the rendered bacon fat, working in batches so that you do not crowd the meat. Remove each batch to a plate.

3. Add a little canola oil if necessary and saute the onion until glassy. Add the diced pepper and saute another few minutes. Now add the chile paste and fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Then add back the beef with any accumulated juices, the diced bacon, and the coffee, beer, and sugar. Bring the pot to a simmer, cover, and transfer to a 250 degree oven.

4. Cook the chili for about 5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat has melted into buttery softness and the flavors have blended. if it looks dry at any time, add a little water. Toward the end, taste and add more brown sugar and salt if necessary. This is even better cooked a day ahead.

Vegetarian Bean Chili
(serves 10-12)

6 cups assorted dried beans, sorted and rinsed

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 recipe toasted chile paste (above)

1 32 ounce can tomatoes

1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the canola oil. Add the chile paste and fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant. In the meantime, add the canned tomatoes to the blender jar and blend into a puree (and to make sure to dislodge all of the chile paste).


2. Add the blended tomato puree to the pot along with the beans and enough water to cover the beans by about an inch. Bring to a simmer.


3. Transfer to a 250 degree over and cook for about 4 to 5 hours until the beans are soft. While cooking stir occasionally and add a little more water if the bean pot is getting too dry. Toward the end of the cooking time, taste and add more brown sugar and salt if necessary.

Serve either chili with sour cream, diced avocado, chopped green onions, and cilantro.