Chicken in Pumpkin-Ancho Mole Sauce

I try to post and talk about a lot of main dishes that are easy, quick, and flavorful. I'm all about things being simple; after all, the time I get to spend in the kitchen without a child clinging to my leg is precious little! But, I have to say that every now and again, I really, really enjoy being able to prepare a meal that took a long time to make. There's just something about all that time invested in the dish that makes it taste so much better. The flavors get to develop so much more fully, and the meat (if you're using meat, that is) just becomes so much more tender and tasty.

I saw Sunny Anderson making this Chicken in Pumpkin-Ancho Mole Sauce on TV one afternoon, and right away I knew that this meal was going to be the very next lazy-day meal that I was going to make. It just seemed so perfect for us: chicken brined in warm spices, then bathed in a thick, hearty sauce made from pumpkin seeds, reconstituted dried peppers, roasted veggies, and fresh herbs. The whole shebang is then baked in a Dutch oven for about an hour, and when it's all said and done the meat just falls right off the bone. The meat is then shredded and placed back in the sauce for another little bath. The mixture is folded into a corn tortilla, along with some fresh veggies, and then it's ready to be devoured. Oh, bliss.

This was the first time I had ever brined anything. I have always wanted to try it, so I was excited about the whole experience. It's definitely easy; it just takes some planning ahead. I had to boil the brining liquid and then allow it to completely cool (so as not to cook the chicken prematurely) before putting the chicken in there for a swim. I actually did all this the day before I was going to cook it, since Sunny says you can do this up to 24 hours ahead of time. I'm not quite sure what it would have tasted like had I not done this, but I can tell you that the meat was unbelievably moist and delicious this way. I highly, highly recommend brining for the whole 24 hours. The spices are present in the final product; you can taste the cinnamon and the cloves there along with the flavors in the sauce. They are a perfect marriage.

The sauce, dubbed a "mole" by Sunny even though one traditionally associates the word mole with the inclusion of chocolate in a sauce, is completely free of the ingredient. Sunny points out in the episode that mole simply means "sauce," so that doesn't necessarily mean you have to add chocolate. She prefers it this way. The sauce is plenty rich without the chocolate, but I would like to know what this would taste like if I were to add just a bit next time..



As is, the sauce is thick and full-bodied, thanks to the heft of the pumpkin seeds and the meaty reconstituted peppers. Sunny only used ancho chilies; I used a combination of ancho and guajillo. Guajillo is twice as spicy as ancho, but is still considered to be more smoky then hot. I also used 2 jalapenos in there, as directed, and found the sauce to be pretty darn spicy. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but I just thought I'd throw that disclaimer on there! It's not for the faint of heart. The cilantro adds brightness, and the roasted veggies make the sauce taste fresh. I was absolutely in love with the sauce. It was so complex, and it just worked so well as a condiment on this twist on a taco. I am quickly becoming obsessed with this idea of a seed- or nut-based sauce (pesto, anyone?) that you can slow-roast your meat in and then shred it back into. The possibilities....oh, they boggle my mind. But for now, I have this exquisite mole.

Chicken in Pumpkin-Ancho Mole Sauce
adapted from Sunny Anderson
serves 6-8

Ingredients
8 cups water, divided
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 bay leaf
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. whole cloves
6 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (Sunny used breasts)
3 ancho chiles (dried poblano peppers)
2 guajillo chiles
2 large jalapenos, halved
1 large onion, quartered
3 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
4 whole garlic cloves
1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds (Sunny used 1 cup)
1 large bunch cilantro leaves
16 corn tortillas, kept warm
2 limes, cut into 8 wedges
2-3 cups fresh spinach leaves, shredded
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, combine 6 cups water with kosher salt, sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon, black peppercorns, and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring gently. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer to a large bowl, add the chicken, and refrigerate, covered, at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Bring the remaining 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. In a medium heatproof bowl, add the ancho and guajillo chiles and cover with the boiling water. Weigh down with a plate so the peppers remain underwater and let them soak for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the stems when the peppers have softened.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. On a sheet tray toss the jalapenos, onion, Roma tomatoes, cloves of garlic, and cumin seeds with 2 Tbsp. oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast until nicely caramelized with good color, 25 to 30 minutes. Add the pumpkin seeds to a dry, hot skillet on high heat. Stir often, until the pumpkin seeds are golden and begin to pop. Transfer to a food processor along with the roasted vegetables. Add the soaked chiles, about 2 Tbsp. of chili soaking liquid, the cilantro leaves, and the remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil to the processor. Puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary.

4. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator, blot dry with paper towels, and place in a large Dutch oven. Pour the mole sauce over top of the chicken, cover Dutch oven with a lid, and place in the 400 degree oven until the chicken is cooked through, 55 to 60 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and transfer chicken to a cutting board to cool. When it is cool to the touch, shred the chicken and add it back to the sauce. Spoon the mole into corn tortillas and serve with lime wedges, shredded spinach, red onion, and radishes.

CEIMB: Turkey Taco Salad with Tomato Dressing

For this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe, Peggy from Pantry Revisited chose for us to make the Beef Taco Salad with Chunky Tomato Dressing, from Ellie's So Easy cookbook. As you can see from the title of this post, I revamped this recipe a bit! Okay, more than a bit. I took two of the main components of the salad, the beef and the chunky tomatoes, and omitted them completely. The results were mixed, but mostly very, very good!

Since I don't eat beef, it was a no-brainer that I would just use ground turkey instead, and of course it worked out just fine. For the dressing, however, I had to get a little more creative. I basically had to remove the main component from the dressing, which was of course the chopped tomato pieces, in order to satisfy my aversion to chunks of raw tomato in my salads. I recalled that I had made a dressing once before that was a maple and lime combination, and it was really tasty. Since there was lime juice in this one, I went with a sweet/tart theme. This time, I added a squeeze of honey, some tomato paste, and I eyeballed the olive oil. After a quick taste, I decided that the lime juice plus the tomato paste was making it taste way too acidic, so I added a bit of sugar. That really helped, but I don't necessarily think I'll go making this made-up salad dressing on a regular basis! Not my favorite. That's totally my fault, though, and not Ellie's.

The salad itself was incredibly delicious. I had this whole meal thrown together in record time, too, so that's always a big plus! Personally, I'm a huge fan of throwing crushed-up tortilla chips on salads and soups, so it was a pretty safe assumption that I would like this. The simple seasoning on the meat and beans was just enough, and I threw in some chopped carrot and scallion to brighten up the salad just a bit. Overall, this was a great salad and I would absolutely make it again. Thank you, Peggy! For the original recipe, click over here. And to check out the CEIMB blogroll, click here.

Homemade Taco Shell Salad

This is one of those meals that was extra fun to make because I took several ideas from different places and kinda smushed them all together into one thing. The idea for a nice salad served in a cute little taco shell cup originally came about when I was thumbing through my latest issue of Cooking Light and saw a recipe for a shrimp salad. I had chicken to use up, so I decided to go with that instead. The recipe also used premade taco salad bowls, but I thought it might be fun to make my own. How hard could it be, I figured? Plus, I had just bought myself some ramekins, and I wanted to break them in. Sure, it would have been nice to break them in by actually baking a little cake or souffle in them, but this would do!

More on making the actual taco bowls later, though. For my salad, I just used what I had on hand (as usual). I tossed together some romaine lettuce, fresh radishes, and red onion. In the same issue of Cooking Light that I had found the taco salad in (the August issue), there was an advertisement for Kashi and they had a couple recipes in the ad. The chicken recipe they had listed really caught my eye, so I decided to use their ideas for a chicken marinade and a vinaigrette.

I sliced up my chicken into long strips, then marinated them for 30 minutes in a mixture of lime juice, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Once they were done marinating, I cooked them on my indoor grill pan for roughly 5 minutes per side, until cooked through. While that was cooking, I made the vinaigrette.

Oh, this vinaigrette. It was so easy, so fresh, and yet it just created so much flavor. We thought it was amazing. I had to alter it slightly; it's not exactly the original version. That is mostly because the original is a poblano spinach vinaigrette, and I had no poblanos! I did, however, have serrano peppers, so I used them instead. It made the dressing spicy, but that was fine with us. If you read this blog somewhat occasionally, you've probably caught on by now that we love our spicy food!

Now, for the taco bowls. I admit I was sort of winging it, and I didn't really figure out how to do it properly until I had already made most of them. I'll tell you what I did, both right and wrong, so hopefully you won't make the same mistakes if you ever try this!

With the help of my 4 year-old son, I would take a flour tortilla, squish it down into a ceramic ramekin, and then spray it with nonstick cooking spray. A little sprinkle of salt and pepper, and they were ready for the oven (the above picture shows this method). I baked them at 350 degrees for around 12 minutes.

Well, this did work...sorta. What happened was this: at 12 minutes, the tops of the shells were crisp and slightly browned. The insides, however, were still very soft. This may have to do with the fact that my son really sprayed these a lot, so they may have been too wet. The other issue these had was that they were a little too scrunched up, so they were pretty hard to fill up with the salad. Oops.

Then I tried them a different way, and it worked much better! I flipped the ramekins over, so they bottoms were facing up. I sprayed the ramekins with cooking spray, as well as the flour tortillas. Then, I molded the tortillas to the ramekins, and they adhered pretty well because of the spray. While they baked, they maintained that nice shape, and once they were finished they were crispy throughout (though maybe they could have used an extra 4-5 minutes in the oven this way). The finished product picture below shows the bowls made the second (and much smarter!) way.

This was a fun experiment, and the meal turned out scrumptious. The salad was light and yummy, the vinaigrette was a welcome pop of flavor, and topping everything off with a dollop of sour cream and a dash of fresh salsa never hurt anything! It was a blast to eat, and I'm always grateful when I can make something that my picky son can enjoy!

The original inspiration for the taco bowl salad (titled Chipotle-Rubbed Shrimp Taco Salad) can be found here. You can find the full recipe for the Cilantro Lime Chicken on Kashi's website, here. I've included it below, since I did change it slightly.

Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco Salad
adapted from Chef Keith Snow's recipe for Kashi and from Cooking Light
makes about 4 servings

Ingredients
For the chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
pinch black pepper

For the vinaigrette:
2 serrano peppers, roasted and skin removed
1 cup fresh spinach, steamed for 2 minutes and squeezed to remove excess liquid
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 of a red onion, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 heaping Tbsp. Dijon mustard
3-4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
pinch kosher salt
pinch black pepper

For the salad:
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 flour tortillas
nonstick cooking spray
salt and pepper, to taste
salsa, for garnish
sour cream, for garnish

Directions
Assemble the marinade: 1. Whisk together the olive oil, lime juice and zest, garlic, cilantro, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Combine marinade with the chicken in a shallow dish or sealable ziploc bag, coating chicken thoroughly. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Make the vinaigrette: 1. Combine all ingredients in a blender (I used my immersion blender) and puree until smooth. Keep at room temperature until ready to use. The leftover dressing can be refrigerated (and is great on just about anything).

Make the taco bowls: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Turn 4 ramekins or heatproof bowls over so the bottoms face up, and place them on a baking sheet. Spray each with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Take each of your 4 tortillas and, one at a time, arrange them on a ramekin or bowl so that they are draped over them. Spray the tops of the tortillas with cooking spray and sprinkle each with salt and pepper. Bake for 12-17 minutres, until crispy and lightly browned all over.

Assemble the salad: 1. Preheat a grill or indoor grill pan to medium-high. Spray with cooking spray. Cook the chicken strips for approximately 5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
2. Meanwhile, toss together the romaine lettuce, radishes, and red onion. Divide the salad among the taco bowls, add some chicken strips to each, and drizzle with as much vinaigrette as desired. Garnish salads with sour cream and salsa, and serve.

Ancho Chile Pork Tacos with Roasted Corn and Caramelized Onions

I have recently begun to cook pork a lot more often than I used to. Since I do not eat beef, or hardly any fish, I wanted to be able to switch it up every now and again from chicken, chicken, and more chicken. I've been trying to figure out some creative ways to use pork, and this recipe certainly fits the bill.

I found this recipe online, by browsing Recipezaar for pork tacos. I thought that sounded really good, and plus I had some flour and corn tortillas to use up! This dish seemed very simple and relatively low maintenance, so I made it on a weeknight when I knew I'd need something like that up my sleeve. I did change the recipe slightly based on what I had on hand that I wanted to use up.

You roast the pork in the oven with a quick spice rub slathered on. While this cooked, I was able to caramelize some onions, chop up some green onions, and shuck some previously roasted corn. Roasting corn is my new favorite way to prepare it. It is very hard to mess up! Simply put the corn, still in its husk, into a 350 degree oven for about a half hour. That's all there is to it! I learned this method while watching Tyler Florence on the Food Network one day, and I just had to try it. It's pretty much foolproof.

Once the pork was finished, I allowed it to rest for about 10 minutes. I sliced it up sort of thinly, then set up all the taco toppings in bowls and warmed up some tortillas. The taco filling is so simple, yet so fresh and light! The spice-rubbed pork was so delicious for containing so few ingredients. The caramelized onions are sweet and juicy. The roasted corn adds a welcome bit of crunch and flavor. The green onions provide a nice, sharp contrast to the other, much sweeter veggies. A sprinkle of green salsa and Cholula (our hot sauce of choice!) added some great heat to the taco. Together, all these components added up to a seriously yummy creation. Next time, I could add some limes to the dinner table. Some citrusy juice sprinkled over the tops of these would be so divine. Even without that, I was completely satisfied with this meal. My kids loved the pork, too, so that was a plus!

I found the original recipe here. I am going to post the recipe the way I made it, though, since I really enjoyed this with my changes.

Pork Tacos with Roasted Corn and Caramelized Onions

adapted from Recipezaar (original recipe from Cooking Light)

makes 8 tacos

Ingredients

2-3 ears of corn, in husks

1 Tbsp. ancho chile powder

1 tsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed of visible fat

1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cups onions, thinly sliced

8 tortillas (I used half flour, half corn)

2-3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Salsa, green salsa, or hot sauce, to taste

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Place ears of corn, still in the husk, directly on the oven rack and bake for 30 minutes. Remove corn from oven and let cool enough to handle.

2. Turn heat up to 425 degrees F. Prepare pork by combining the ancho powder, brown sugar, and salt in a small bowl and rubbing it evenly over the pork. Place tenderloin on a foil-lined baking sheet, coated in cooking spray, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 degrees. Let the pork rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

3. While pork is cooking, heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil, then the thinly sliced onions. Cover and cook at least 10 minutes, until onions are soft and golden brown, stirring frequently. Uncover and cook another few minutes, then remove from heat.

4. As the onions and pork continue their respective cooking processes, you can cut the corn off their husks. I use a bundt pan to do this. I peel the husk back and use it as a handle. I then place the corn into the center hole of the bundt pan and, using a sharp knife, slice downward. The corn falls away from the cob and into the bundt pan. It's a great trick!

5. After pork rests, slice it thinly and serve it alongside the caramelized onions and roasted corn. Gently warm the tortillas, then assemble tacos and enjoy!