Holy Mole! (no, not the little mammal, the Mexican dish)

The weeks are whizzing by with the speed that all drivers along Mopac wish that they could attain during our increasingly busy rush hours. (Is it rush hour if it starts at 3:30? Really, what is up with all this traffic?) I keep getting stuck in these long quagmires of cars and getting really angry - which is probably why I am resorting to such belabored metaphors... Between being stuck in traffic, coaching, volunteering with the kids at Mathews, and cooking, the last couple of weeks have been so packed that I can barely remember what happened.

I had a great time experimenting with a red mole recipe that I have had for a while. Mole is a wonderful invention of Mexican cuisine that combines roasted and ground chilies, nuts, and unsweetened chocolate to create an unctuous, complex sauce for poultry and meat dishes. Most people are only familiar with the dark moles, but in searching for a mole recipe that did not contain any nuts, I ran across some recipes that I got a few years ago from the MexicArte Museum here in Austin. The recipes were given out in conjunction with a celebration of Dia de los Muertos during the 100th Anniversary of Frida Kahlo's birth, and were all variations of the more familiar dark mole. The one I used is called "Frida's Heart", and it is for a red mole. You simmer a pork loin roast in water with onions and bay leaves, then use the stock and meat in the recipe. The broth that results from cooking the pork is heavenly. Many Asian soups are based on pork broth, and I can see why... The sauce is composed of ancho and guajillo chilies that are warmed, then soaked and ground into a paste after the seeds and ribs are removed, plus onions, garlic, plaintains, sesame seeds and potatoes. As I tasted I was surprised at how "raw" everything tasted. The chilies were aggressive and blunt, and none of the flavors came together very well. I improvised by adding some sugar to balance the spiciness of the chilies, some unsweetened chocolate for depth, and letting the dish cook for an additional hour or so. By the end of all this I had it --- the rich, multilayered flavors that I had been seeking. I used some of the leftover plantain to make "tostones" and garnished the finished dish with these and more sesame seeds. (I will always sacrifice authenticity for tastiness, and fried plantains are GOOD)

This was the entire menu:

• Maple Apricot Granola with candied ginger
• Cuban Black Bean Soup
• Corn Bread
• Grilled Shrimp
• Red Mole with Pork Loin
• Basmati Rice
• Grilled Asparagus
• Chocolate Mousse

It was definitely challenging to prepare the mole, but well worth it at the end.