Yellow Mole Recipes

GRILLED TUNA WITH YELLOW MOLE SAUCE AND CHAYOTE SUCCOTASH

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a medium saucepan until smoking. Add the tortillas and fry until crisp, remove to a plate. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until soft. Remove. Add the pumpkin seeds to the pan and cook until golden. Add the stock, peppers, mango, tomatillos and raisins and cook for 30 minutes over medium-high heat. Place the mixture and the fried tortillas in a food processor and process until smooth. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan until smoking. Add the tortillas and fry until crisp, remove to a plate. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until soft. Remove with Add the pumpkin seeds to the pan and cook until golden. Add the stock, peppers, mango tomatillos and raisins and cook for 30 minutes over medium-high heat. Place the mixture and the fried tortillas in a food processor and process until smooth.
• Pour the mixture into a clean medium saucepan and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Add the chocolate, honey, cloves and salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Brush tuna with oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat grill pan over high heat. Sear tuna on both sides for 1 to 2 minutes. Serve rare-medium rare.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub the chayote with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast until just cooked through, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove, let cool slightly and slice in half vertically. Scoop out the flesh of the chayote and remove to a plate. Reserve the shells.
• Heat the remaining oil in a large saute pan. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add the pepper and zucchini and cook for 5 minutes. Add the lima beans and corn and cook an additional 5 minutes. Stir in reserved chayote flesh. Add the butter, lime juice and cilantro and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Scoop the mixture into the roasted chayote shells.

PAN-ROASTED PORK CHOPS WITH YELLOW PEPPER MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the 1/4 cup oil in a medium saucepan over high heat until smoking. Add the tortillas and fry until crisp, about 1 minute. Remove to a plate.
• Add the pumpkin seeds to the pan and cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock, yellow peppers, mango, tomatillos, and raisins and boil, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Transfer the yellow pepper mixture, the fried tortillas, and the pumpkin seeds to a food processor and process until smooth. Strain the sauce into a clean medium saucepan and simmer over medium heat until it reaches a sauce consistency, 15 to 20 minutes. Keep warm over low heat.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Heat the 2 tablespoons oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan over high heat until almost smoking. Season the chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chops in the pan and cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes; flip the chops over and place the pan in the oven. Roast until medium, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove the chops from the pan and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. While the chops are resting, add the chocolate, honey, cloves, and cinnamon to the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. The mole sauce can be made up to 1 day in advance and refrigerated. Reheat before serving.
• Ladle some of the sauce onto each of 4 large dinner plates and top with a pork chop.

MOLE AMARILLO -- MEXICAN YELLOW SAUCE -- YELLOW MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
• In a dry cast-iron skillet or comal, toast the guajillo and ancho chiles over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, until fragrant; turn them and shake the pan so they don't scorch.
• Put the toasted chiles in a bowl, cover with the boiling water, and let soak until softened and reconstituted, about 20 minutes.
• Return the skillet to medium-high heat to get quite hot.
• Rub the onion, garlic, tomatillos, and tomato with the oil.
• Lay the vegetables in the hot pan and roast, turning occasionally, until soft and well charred on all sides, about 10 minutes.
• Put the vegetables in a bowl to let them cool a bit.
• Meanwhile, grind the peppercorns and cloves in a coffee grinder or spice mill.
• Put everything together in a blender or food processor and puree in batches until completely smooth.
• Melt the lard in a skillet over medium heat and pour in the puree.
• Cook and stir for 5 minutes, until the mole deepens in color.
• In a small bowl, mix the masa harina with 1/4 cup of warm water until smooth and lump-free.
• Whisk into the sauce and continue to simmer for 5 more minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened and able to coat the back of a spoon.

OAXACAN YELLOW MOLE FILLING

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatillos, cinnamon, oregano, cloves and peppercorns. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the tomatillos are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place the chilies in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak until very soft, 10 to 20 minutes. Place the tomatillo mixture in a food processor. Pulse to partly puree. Add the chilies, one at a time, tasting after each addition until the filling is as hot as you like it. Puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Follow directions for basic tamales.