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Recipe Detail Page
Seared Chicken with Mexican Mole Sauce
Winter 2012
Dark chocolate and ancho chilies give this mole (pronounced “mow-lay”) sauce a deep, rich flavour that has a touch of sweetness and a little heat. Ancho chilies are oval shaped dried chilies with an earthy, complex flavour; look for them in specialty grocery stores. Serve the chicken and sauce with rice and a salad of jicama and avocado. The recipe makes a little more sauce than you’ll need for the chicken cutlets but it will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days and is equally divine spooned over grilled pork chops.
Serves 2
MOLE SAUCE
2 dried ancho chilies
3 tbsp (45 mL) slivered almonds
1 medium tomato, cored and chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp (2 mL) each ground cumin and dried oregano
1 cup (250 mL) low-sodium chicken stock
2 tbsp (30 mL) raisins
½ tsp (2 mL) finely grated orange zest
¼ cup (60 mL) finely chopped good-quality
90% dark chocolate
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
CHICKEN
2 chicken breast cutlets
2 tsp (10 mL) olive oil
½ tsp (2 mL) dried oregano
¼ tsp (1 mL) each chili powder, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh cilantro sprigs for garnish
1 Heat a good-quality nonstick medium skillet over medium heat. Add chilies and cook for about 5 minutes, pressing them against the skillet with an egg lifter and turning occasionally, until fragrant and a little pliable. Remove from skillet and put into a heatproof bowl. Add enough boiling water to cover chilies. Weight chilies down with a small plate and set aside for at least 30 minutes or until completely softened.
2 Meanwhile, in same skillet, toss almonds over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes or untilgolden. Tip almonds into a blender (not a food processor).
3 Increase heat to medium-high and add tomato to skillet. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until tomato starts to brown. Remove tomato to a small bowl.
4 Reduce heat to medium and add vegetable oil to skillet. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Return tomato to skillet and add stock, raisins and orange zest. Bring to a boil, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of skillet. Add chocolate and stir until melted. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 3 to 5 minutes or until tomato has softened.
5 Scrape contents of skillet into blender. Drain chilies, remove stems and seed, then chop chilies coarsely. Add chilies to blender. Blend until fairly smooth. Scrape sauce into a small saucepan and set aside.
6 Heat a ridged grill pan over medium-high heat. Rub chicken cutlets on both sides with olive oil. Sprinkle on both sides with oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook chicken in grill pan for 4 to 6 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink inside.
7 Meanwhile, reheat sauce over medium heat, taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.Place chicken cutlets on 2 warm plates. Spoon sauce generously over each cutlet and garnish with cilantro sprigs.
Serves 2
