Based on a recipe from Punch, who claimed every mama in Spanish Harlem had a secret combination of ingredients that made the mole her own, so it is with Clare’s version.
The name for mole, the rich Mexican sauce often served with chicken, came from the Aztec word molli meaning “concoction.” Clare’s version, heavily influenced by New York City’s melting pot of cultures, truly lives up to that Aztec etymology. She plumbed her Italian heritage for ingredients like fennel but gave the biggest nod to Mike’s Celtic heritage with the addition of the dark and malty Guinness stout.
Mole is an acquired taste and certainly not for everyone. The key to making this wild range of ingredients work as a whole is to keep the blend balanced. Not too spicy but not too bland, either, and always tempering the bitter with the sweet.
Makes 6 servings
4 chicken breasts (skin on, bone in) or 1 pound cooked and shredded chicken (about 3 cups)
2½ cups Guinness stout
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons canola or corn oil
water
½ pound bacon, chopped
2 large red onions, chopped
2 large yellow onions, chopped
1 Spanish onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bell peppers, chopped (approximately 1 cup)
½ jalapeño pepper, seeds and veins removed, chopped (for a hotter mole, use 1 jalapeño, or leave it out completely for no heat)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 tablespoons ground almonds (or 1¼ teaspoons almond extract)
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, for garnish, optional
Step 1—Poach the chicken: You can poach the chicken just before making the mole or a day in advance. Place the 4 chicken breasts in a large pot or Dutch oven, skin side up. Ideally, they will sit in a single layer or overlap only a bit. Pour 1½ cups of the Guinness, the salt and pepper, and the oil into the pot and fill the rest of the way with water. The liquid level should be high enough to cover your chicken by 1 full inch. Bring the pot to a boil, and then turn the heat down to a simmer. Half cover the pot, cooking for about 15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and cover the pot fully, leaving the chicken to finish cooking in the hot water for another 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the poaching liquid. When cool enough to handle, discard the skin and shred the meat into pieces (discard bones). Set aside the shredded chicken. (If making a day in advance, place in a plastic container and refrigerate.)
Step 2—Cook the bacon and prep the veggies: Take out a separate, large pan, and slowly cook the fat out of the chopped bacon. Do this over low heat, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook only until the fat is rendered; the bacon should not be crispy.
Step 3—Cook the veggies: When the bacon fat is rendered, add the chopped onions, garlic, bell peppers, and jalapeño. Cook slowly over medium heat until the onions are translucent and the peppers soft, for 10–15 minutes.
Step 4—Create a spice mix: Pour the remaining cup of Guinness into a mixing bowl and add the chili powder, oregano, thyme, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, and ground almonds. Pour this aromatic mixture into the pan with the bacon and vegetables. Stir well to blend. Using a hand immersion blender, chop and blend the ingredients into a smooth sauce. When well blended, add the chocolate, stirring until melted and velvety smooth.
Step 5—Add the chicken and finish: Add the chicken to the sauce and continuing cooking until thick, for 25–30 minutes. Plate the chicken mole and sprinkle sesame seeds, if using, over the finished dish. Serve hot with plenty of warm flour or corn tortillas for dipping in this amazingly flavorful sauce!
Sergeant Franco rivals Elvis in his love of peanut butter. (This Clare knew from the Five-Borough Bake Sale that took place in Roast Mortem.) With her promo bag of chocolate chips from the ICE show, she decided to create this “surprise” treat for him—a sweet and tender peanut butter cookie with the kind of ooey-gooey chocolate heart that grown men swoon for—and the perfect, home- baked thank-you for body-slamming that scumbag Sun God.
Makes 18–20 big, stuffed cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1¼ cups peanut butter (standard creamy, not sugarless)
1 cup granulated sugar plus ½ cup, for dusting
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips (6–8 ounces)
Confectioners’ sugar, optional
Step 1—Make the dough: Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla and blend well. Finally, add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix only enough until a soft dough forms.
Step 2—Form and stuff: Pinch off generous pieces of dough and roll into big, golf-ball-sized rounds. Cradle the cookie ball in one hand. Use the thumb of your opposite hand to make a deep indentation in the center of each cookie ball. Fill the hole with about a teaspoon of chocolate chips and then seal the chocolate inside the dough ball. Gently roll the balls in white, granulated sugar for a finished look.
Step 3—Freeze: Place the cookie balls on a wax-paper-covered plate in the freezer for 30 minutes. (The wax paper will prevent the dough from adhering to the plate.) Do not skip this freezing step. This is the key to a successful cookie. If you don’t freeze the cookie dough before baking, the cookie may break while baking and the chocolate may ooze out instead of staying in the center of the cookie.
Step 4—Bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place chilled cookie balls on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, keeping the balls a few inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake 20–30 minutes. The cookies are not done until they flatten out, so be patient and wait for this to happen. The chocolate should stay inside. A nice “cover” for a cookie with oozing chocolate is to gently dust with confectioners’ sugar. (Yes, a bit of sweetness and light once again rescues the day—and the cookie.)
Note: Hot cookies are fragile. Allow them to cool before picking them up or they’ll break on you. And allow your baking sheets to cool before putting more dough on them.