Chicken Molé

Even though I grew up in a Tejano household, my family never had the patience to tackle molé from scratch.  We stuck to the always-popular 'steak fajitas and homemade tortillas' route (which I am NOT complaining about :D).  Now that cooking is one of my primary hobbies, I seek out from-scratch recipes that take an entire evening, or even weekend, to complete.  Fortunately, this one only took a few hours.  And I paired it with some simple slow-roasted cauliflower (something starchy to soak up all the amazing sauce).  This recipe makes a lot of molé and it freezes very well!  I originally found this recipe at Epicurious.

Equipment:
cast iron dutch oven (or other heavy bottomed soup pot) with lid
large heavy-bottomed saucepan (I use my Cuisinart 12-inch stainless steel) with lid
citrus juicer (if using fresh orange juice)
blender (or food processor)

Ingredients:
(1+2) tbsp cooking fat
(5) lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
(3) cups chicken broth
(2) cups orange juice (I like to fresh squeeze mine - at least 3 oranges)
(3) large onions, sliced
(1/2) cup sliced almonds
(6) garlic cloves, sliced
(4) tsp comino seeds
(4) tsp coriander seeds
(4) oz dried pasilla chiles*
(4) oz dried negro chiles*
(1/4) cup raisins
(1 1/2) tsp dried oregano
(4) 3 1/2-inch strips of orange peel (just the orange part, not the white)
(1) 3-ounce disk of Mexican chocolate**, chopped (not the hot chocolate drink mix)
fresh cilantro, chopped

*stemmed, seeded, rinsed and torn into 1-inch pieces (wear gloves when doing this!)

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tbsp of cooking fat in dutch oven.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.  Add chicken to pot and sauté until lightly browned (adding more fat as needed).  Work in batches (do not overcrowd the pan).
2.  Once all of the chicken is cooked, add all of it back to the pot, along with chicken broth and orange juice.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through (about 25 minutes).
3. While chicken is simmering, heat remaining 2 tbsp fat in a large heavy saucepan.  Add onions and sauté until golden brown (about 20 minutes).  Reduce heat to medium, then add almonds, garlic, comino seeds and coriander seeds.  Sauté until almonds begin to brown.  Add chiles and stir until they begin to soften (2 minutes).
4.  Transfer chicken (with tongs or slotted spoon) to a large bowl.  Pour the chicken cooking liquid into saucepan (reserve pot afterwards) with onion mixture.  Add raisins, orange peel and oregano to saucepan.  Cover and simmer until chiles are soft, stirring occasionally (about 30 minutes).  **This is when you would make the roasted cauliflower if you choose to make it)**  Remove pan from heat and add chocolate.  Let sit for 15 minutes, until chocolate completely melts and sauce cools.
5.  In small batches, add sauce to blender and puree until smooth (return pureed sauce to dutch oven).  Add salt and pepper.  Coarsely shred chicken (I use my food processor) and add it to the dutch oven with the sauce.  Stir to coat.

I have to admit, I haven't made this in awhile, but just reading over it again makes me want to add it to my meal plan for next week.  The tastes in this molé are far more complex than anything you will ever taste out of a can (even after being thawed from the freezer).  Enjoy!