Historic Flavors

Mole Poblano with Roast Chicken

Words by Kayla & Justin Butts Photos by Rachel Benavides

Mole poblano is one of the oldest dishes in all of the Americas, and when done right, it is one of the best.

Cinco de Mayo celebration honors the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862, when the Mexican army served up a stunning defeat to the French. But the city of Puebla is even more famous for its mild chili pepper, the poblano: the key ingredient to mole poblano. 

Really good mole, like an exceptionally fine wine, offers a complex array of flavors. Mole poblano is a little sweet, a little smoky, a little spicy, with a depth of flavors that blends perfectly. These flavors roll across the palette in wave after wave with a nice finish, just like a fine wine. 

For first-time mole-makers, this will be an experience. The sauce contains chocolate, pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, lard, anise, a cinnamon stick, stale bread, plus dried peppers and many other ingredients rarely used in today’s kitchens. This dish recalls the long ago days of Mexico when the abuelitas foraged the landscape for anything and everything with flavor and brought it all back to the mortar and pestle. 

Don’t let the number of ingredients be intimidating; everything needed for mole poblano can be found in a quick pass through the supermarket. Traditional mole can take all day to prepare, but our version includes a few shortcuts that don’t sacrifice flavor. With the cooking shortcuts, making mole at home can be simple and fun—especially with a margarita in hand.

The mole poblano will only achieve its perfection if it has an exceptional chicken to grace. For this recipe, we recommend a pastured chicken from a local farm. Pastured chickens are raised in fields and forests. They are fattened on bugs, garden produce, and native forage, for yielding an incredible flavor.  

We don’t recommend cooking the chicken in the mole poblano, as many recipes suggest. Sometimes chicken cooked in the sauce can become tough and rubbery. Roast the chicken in the oven, and finish it with the mole poblano. This way the chicken will stay moist and tender, with a nice crisp skin, and the mole poblano will transform the chicken into a culinary masterpiece.  

Great food traditions are handed down for a reason. Just as the Mexican army liberated Mexico, liberate your kitchen from the ordinary, and remember every Cinco de Mayo from now on with flavor!

Roast Chicken
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:

• One 3-5 lb. whole chicken with skin on (pastured from a local farm)
• 2-3 T. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven with the roasting pan inside to 375°F. Brush olive oil on chicken and season generously with salt and pepper. Place chicken on the roasting pan, breast side up. Cook for 30 minutes.

Flip chicken so that the backbone is facing up. Cook an additional 30 minutes. Check to ensure internal temperature of the meatiest part of one leg has reached 165°F. If chicken has not reached proper internal temperature, rotate chicken so that breast side is up and return it to the oven for up to 30 minutes or until temperature is reached. 

Let chicken rest for 10-15 minutes

Mole Poblano 
Ingredients:

• 8 ancho peppers (name for dried poblano), stems removed with seeds reserved
• 4 pasilla peppers, stems removed with seeds reserved
• 5 guajillo peppers, stems removed with seeds reserved
• 1 c. lard (preferably from pastured, hormone and antibiotic-free porkers)
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 6 tomatillos (may substitute 6 tomatoes and the juice of two limes), coarsely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 c. nuts (pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, or your favorite raw, unsalted nuts)
• 1/4 c. raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 oz. sesame seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick (canela)
• 1/2 t. anise seeds
• 1/2 t. cumin seeds
• 1/2 t. black peppercorns
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 2 corn tortillas, torn into pieces
• 2 French rolls (bolillos), 2-3 days old, torn into pieces
• 5 c. low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 oz. Mexican chocolate, chopped (may substitute dark, bittersweet chocolate)
• 2 T. sugar
• Salt, to taste

Directions:
While oven preheats, place prepared peppers in a large cast iron skillet. Roast peppers for two minutes on each side, until skin starts to brown and peppers become fragrant. Remove peppers from skillet and place in a large bowl with hot water. Let peppers reconstitute for ten minutes. Set aside.

Heat ½ cup lard in skillet over medium heat. Add onion, tomatillos, and garlic, cooking them for three minutes, until translucent and fragrant. Add nuts and pumpkin seeds to vegetables and cook for two-three minutes, stirring frequently. If ingredients begin to stick, add remaining lard to pan. Add seeds (including one tablespoon reserved pepper seeds, or more if you like it spicy), cinnamon stick, and peppercorns to nut mixture and cook one minute, stirring constantly to ensure seeds and nuts don’t overbrown. Add tortillas and bolillos to mixture, stirring to incorporate well. Finally, add the remaining ingredients, including reserved peppers, to your skillet and let simmer on low heat for 15-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove mixture from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Purée mole mixture until smooth. If your food processor doesn’t break up the many fine seeds, try running the mixture through the blender in batches. Smother chicken in mole and enjoy!