On Friendship and Mole: Kale and Mushroom Enchiladas with Mole Poblano

I've been wrestling with how to start this post, because every way I came at it failed to do justice to the joy I took from the dreaming, preparing and eating of the meal.

Enough with the hemming and hawing. I'll just say it - I love eating with you, NATALIE CARNES!

Natalie is the only person I know who always wants to eat the exact same things I want to eat. When we go to our favorite restaurant, the exact same things always catch our eye. You might think this would make the meal boring, but you are wrong: it actually means that we can get twice as many items and split them all. And we always share everything exactly half, except for the chocolate banana bread pudding, which I feel like Natalie was a bit of a pansy about (and, I'm sorry I told you to get the bloody mary; I should've known better).

So when Natalie and I started plotting what we would cook for Friend Night on her trip to Chicago, I was not at all surprised to see her write, "I've been dreaming of Kale," because I, of course, had been dreaming of Kale - it's luxurious dark folds dancing through my head each night - too.

Given this concurrent dreaming, we chose the logical next step:

We decided to make mole, from scratch.

There were so many things that were ridiculous about the meal - Why didn't it occur to us that it would be difficult to grind up 20 chilies and mountains of spices with nothing but a mini food processor and a mortar and pestle? And wasn't it a bit audacious to cook something neither of us had ever tried to make before for 12 of our most ravenous friends? And yet, it turned out perfectly, of course.

Kale and Mushroom Enchiladas with Mole Poblano

The mole recipe is adapted from Anna Thomas' The New Vegetarian Epicure, but the meal is all Natalie and Cassie.

For the mole:
7 dried ancho chiles
7 dried pasilla or mild chiles
3 chipotle chiles in adobo
3-4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups chopped tomatoes with juice (we used canned, because the fresh tomatoes were looking miserable)
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt to taste
1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp anise seeds
4 tbs sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 1/2 cup blanched almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup apple juice, maybe a bit more
3.5 oz unsweetened very fine chocolate - no skimping! - coarsely chopped

For the enchiladas:
2 tbs olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 large bunch of kale, tough ribs removed and coarsely chopped
12 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp mexican oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
just a dash of red pepper flakes, Natalie!
1/2 cup slivered sundried tomatoes (we used smoked tomatoes)
12 oz chiuaua cheese, grated
18 fresh corn tortillas
chopped fresh cilantro and toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Prepare the mole:
Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles and wash. Put in a large, nonreactive pot with tomatoes, broth, onions, garlic and salt. The broth should just cover the chiles; add a bit more if necessary. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 40 minutes. When the vegetables are soft, puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a boring normal blender.

Grind the coriander and anise with a mortar and pestle. Grind the sesame seeds and almonds in a food processor until ground. Add the coriander, anise, raisins, cloves and cinnamon and process until it forms a sticky paste. Add the paste to the chile puree.

Add the fruit juice to the chile puree and return to a simmer; add the chocolate and stir as the chocolate melts. Thicken or thin with a bit more juice, and add salt to taste.

Prepare the filling:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and spices, and stir until just fragrant, about thirty seconds. Add the mushrooms and saute until they begin to release their juices, about 5 minutes. Add the kale in handfuls and saute until the kale is very tender, about 10 minutes, oh, who am I kidding? I was definitely not timing, and Natalie made the filling anyway. Stir in sundried tomatoes and add pepper and salt to taste. Remove from heat.

Fill the enchiladas:
In the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan, spread a thick layer of mole. For each tortilla, use a couple heaping tablespoons of filling, and a generous sprinkling of cheese. Roll and place seam-side down in the baking pan. Cover the top of the enchiladas with another thick layer of mole, being sure to cover all exposed tortilla, things are spicy enough with all those chiles! Sprinkle generously with remaining cheese. Bake, until bubbly and warmed through, about 15 minutes.

Drizzle the enchiladas with a bit more mole, and garnish with cilantro and sesame seeds.

Cassie vs. the Winter, and how the Bananas saved Everything.

Winter, I’m tired of you.

The winter had stolen my appetite. I’d flipped, half-heartedly through my recent issue of Bon Appetit, the Greens’ Cookbook who’s spine I’d barely cracked. I’d even broken open CT's Vegetables, hoping that maybe the audacity of his recipes might inspire me.

Nothing.

Instead of appetite, I felt only apathy. Is it snowing, again?

Megan's three old bananas rotted away on our baker's rack, a testament to the death of all things living, a gastronomic eulogy for the green and spring and growing that I so desperately longed for...

But in these bananas - is it possible, dare I hope? - that I might find rebirth?

Black Tea-Scented Banana Bread

I've tried to make this chai infused bread eight million times, but always fail because, shockingly, bananas are much more obtrusive than you'd expect. And thus my cunningly flavored banana bread usually just turns out like plain old banana bread. But this time it worked! Three cheers for the bananas!

The base for this bread is based on a recipe from Bon Appetit.

1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
1 stick of butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed to smithereens
2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbs. black tea leaves, gently crushed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
a dash of freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup slivered almonds

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 loaf pan. Combine the sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. It will become wonderfully fluffy and foamy, just you wait! Using a pastry cutter (or fine, if you're fancy, an electric mixer) to cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl; mix in eggs, bananas and sour cream mixture. Sift in flour and baking soda, and add tea and spices, and stir until well combined. Fold in almonds.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan, and bake until set in the center, I'd say about an hour. Cool at least 10 minutes. Dreaming of spring, enjoy a slice while still warm.