Join me at Sonora Grill tomorrow at 2pm and I’ll show you how to blast out a few simple but delicious desserts, for instance, Torre De Bunuelos, Tres Leches, Sopapillas…it may all be written in Spanish but in the universal language of Awesome Dessert…your mouth is gonna be like O heck yeah…

I don’t know, Chris. You’re finally slipping. I didn’t see no old man.

Yeah, sure Chef, right…little old man with a cane…riiight…

Chef Lanz told me to lighten up. Quit being so fast, accurate, precise, who cares about whether or not you can do perfect brunoise, fine dice, batonette, tournet cut freaking carrots…you can make better food if you put some love in it…chill out and relax, kid…and why don’t you ever say anything? I’ve already hired you…stop worrying so much…You know who makes the best food in the world Chris? Who’s the best chef you know? I said I really don’t know Chef. He said your grandma Chris. Your grandma makes the best food in the world right? From here on out, you are gonna start cooking like your grandma…only with knife skills…can you do that?
Okay Chef Lanz. Yeah I can do that.

And BTW Chef Lanz, who had real chops in the kitchen, my new boss, he actually had been to cooking school…in London. As I said before, I’ve had a charmed life…I’ve worked for some chefs who knew what they were doing…

In short time, he left to take the helm at the new Café at the re-opening of The Legion of Honor up at Lincoln Park. Leaving me in charge at the Café de Young…I’ve been indebted to his memory ever since…before he left, we started a tradition of having lunch together…nearly everyday…we had a lot of frittatas with salad. A lot of local greens he’d smother with a ton of handmade Caesar dressing.

So, watching the fights on TV, eating a Sonora Grill burrito that I’d picked up to go…crunching on SG chips and salsa…I had an epiphany…a thought that came to me in an instant from nowhere…encapsulating my entire personal history in the Universe…I’d have liked to have been an MMA fighter, but these chips and this salsa…dang! That’s some pretty good food they gots down there at Sonora Grill. The ambience inside is amazing and you could probably convince the bartender to change the channel from football to MMA, but more people dig football…far and away, much more popular sport so it’s more likely to be played in most public establishments.

Anyway, I took it home, Mike Brown scored a knockout and then I watched Donald Cerrone destroy his opponent…definitely fight of the night…glad I don’t get punched out by one of these guys for money…for some people…like me, cooking and cheffing is natural, it’s safe…other guys are a little more dangerous. 

(Respectfully…Ripped off from Seasons Of My Heart: A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca by Susana Trilling (Ballantine Books, 1999). Copyright 1999 by Susana Trilling.
(who has to be one of the coolest people I’ve met. Great cook, incredible cookbook. She’s one of those people that went to check it out and ‘went native’…blows your mind at every turn.)

8 servings
I learned to make this flavorful combination of chiles and spices from my friend and teacher Carlota Santos. She has a little restaurant in her home where my husband Eric used to eat quite often before I came to live in Oaxaca. She always joked that she lost her best customer when I started to cook here, but gained a friend in me when she taught me the dishes she knew he liked to eat! I spent hours in her kitchen learning about this mole and the tamales and enchiladas you can make with the leftovers.
Seasoning ingredients:
2 large onions, each studded with a whole clove
4 celery ribs with leaves
2 small heads garlic
4 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
2 bay leaves
2 chiles de arbol
6 black peppercorns
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 pinches dried
2 whole allspice
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 chickens (about 4 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 servings, reserving the back and neck for stock
18 chiles anchos (about 9 ounces), stemmed and seeded
21 chiles guajillos (about 4 1/2 ounces), stemmed and seeded
2 black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 whole allspice
1 piece of Mexican cinnamon, about 1 inch long
1/2 small head of garlic, cloves separated
1 small white onion, quartered
1 pound ripe tomatoes (2 medium-large round or 8-10 plum), quartered
1 sprig marjoram or Oaxacan oregano, or ½ teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sunflower or vegetable oil
1/2 ripe plantain, sliced
1/2 bolillo or French roll, sliced
1 tablespoon raisins
5 whole, unpeeled almonds
3 tablespoons lard, sunflower oil, or vegetable oil
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2 bars Mexican chocolate (3 ounces each), or to taste
Salt to taste
In a heavy 7-quart stockpot, heat 6 quarts water and the seasoning ingredients to a boil. Add the chicken pieces and lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook the chicken for about 35 to 45 minutes or until the meat is tender and the juices run clear when the dark meat is pierced with a fork. Remove the chicken, strain, and reserve the stock.
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. On a 10-inch dry comal, griddle, or in a cast-iron frying pan over low heat, toast the chiles on both sides for about 10 minutes, toasting the chiles anchos a bit slower and longer than the chiles guajillos because of their thicker skins. Toast them on both sides until their skins start to blister and they give off their aroma. Remove the chiles from the comal or pan, place them in a medium bowl, and cover with the hot water. Soak the chiles for 20 minutes, turning to soften them. Puree in a blender, using as little of the chile water as possible, about 1 cup. Pass the puree through a sieve or food mill to remove the skins.
On the comal, toast the peppercorns, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon stick. Quickly grill the garlic and onion, turning them often until they become translucent. Cool them, then puree the spices, onion, and garlic in a blender with ½ cup of the reserved stock. Set aside.
In an 8-inch cast-iron frying pan over medium heat, cook tomato pieces and marjoram or oregano with no oil until condensed, 10 to 15 minutes. First they will give off their juices, then they will dry out. Puree the tomato mixture in a blender then pass the mixture through a sieve or food mill.
In a medium frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat and fry the plantain and bread slices until brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from the pan. Add more oil (if needed) and fry the raisins until they are plump, about 3 minutes. Remove them from the pan. Fry the almonds until light brown, about 4 minutes. Remove from the pan. Place the plantain, bolillo, raisins, and almonds in a blender with 1-1/2 cups of the reserved broth and blend until smooth. Wipe out the frying pan and put over low heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil and the sesame seeds and fry until brown, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool the seeds and grind in a molcajete or spice grinder.
In a heavy 6-quart stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon of lard over high heat until smoking. Add the chile puree a little at a time, stirring constantly. It will splatter about a bit, but keep stirring. Lower heat to medium and after about 20 minutes, or when chile puree is thick, add the tomato mixture and continue to cook, about 15 minutes, stirring to keep the mole from sticking or burning. Add the onion and ground spice mixture and stir well. Add the pureed plantain mixture and ground sesame seeds, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes. Add 4-1/2 to 5 cups of the reserved broth to thin the sauce, then add the chocolate, stirring constantly. When the chocolate dissolves, add the salt. Let it cook down for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The more time it has to cook, the better.
Return the chicken pieces to the broth and heat through. Add more broth to the mole if needed. The mole should be thick enough to just coat a spoon, no more. Place a piece of chicken on a serving plate and ladle a large spoonful of mole on top. It should completely cover the meat. Serve with corn tortillas.
Hint: You can use turkey or pork instead of chicken. If you want to make it less picante, use half the amount of chiles and the same amount of the other ingredients.