The Mexican Slow Cooker: Recipes for Mole, Enchiladas, Carnitas, Chile Verde Pork, and More Favorites (8 page)

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Authors: Deborah Schneider

BOOK: The Mexican Slow Cooker: Recipes for Mole, Enchiladas, Carnitas, Chile Verde Pork, and More Favorites
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Although most people think of tacos and other street foods as typical Mexican fare, the heart and soul of Mexican regional cooking is actually the simple one-pot stew called a
guisado.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of variations, from the traditional to the modern, from the spicy beef and dried chiles of the north to the famous moles of central Mexico to pitch-black Yucatecan
mole negro
prepared with wild turkey. Whatever regional name they go by,
guisados
are really just thick, savory sauces cooked with tender pieces of slowly simmered meats.

As a general rule, the taste and texture of the sauce are at least as important as the meat. In the case of moles, the mole sauce
is
the dish; the meat is simply a garnish. Preparations flow from meal to meal, so the shredded chicken that flavored the morning’s
caldo de pollo
is likely to reappear cloaked in dinner’s
mole negro
. A substantial
guisado
might be served in a
cazuela
with rice, beans, and tortillas, or it can be used for stuffing chile rellenos or enchiladas, tucked into tacos or gorditas, or used to fill burritos and tamales.

These easy one-
cazuela
main dishes are perfect for the slow cooker. Some recipes will call for you to make a simple salsa before adding the meat for the final, slow cooking. By replicating the techniques that have been used by the cooks of Mexico for thousands of years—usually toasting, soaking, and pureeing—you can achieve an amazing depth of flavor and texture.

Pollo en Crema con Chipotles
CHICKEN AND PEPPERS IN CHIPOTLE CREAM
Serves 6
Danny Esparza is the chef in charge of our daily “family meal” at SOL Cocina, and this smoky, creamy chicken recipe is one of his specialties. Instead of bone-in chicken breasts you can use boneless chicken pieces, if you like, in which case the cooking time will be shorter by as much as an hour. Don’t be afraid of using both jalapeños and chipotles; the sauce, tempered by the cream, is only moderately spicy, and the jalapeños give a wonderful green chile savor to the sauce. Serve with corn tortillas and rice.
6 chicken breasts (about 4 pounds total)
1 cup water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 large white onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded, and cut into strips
1 large poblano chile, stemmed, seeded, and cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into strips
1 large Roma tomato, diced
3 tablespoons minced garlic
¼ cup finely chopped chipotles in adobo, or more to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup heavy cream
TO SERVE
Sliced Hass avocado
Place the chicken, water, and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a 5-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low, turning the chicken once, for 3 to 4 hours, or until the chicken is just tender.
When the chicken is cooked, remove from the slow cooker, leaving the broth in the cooker. Remove the bones and skin from the chicken and return the meat in large pieces to the slow cooker.
Peel the onion and cut in half horizontally. Cut a half-inch slice from the root and stem ends and discard. Stand the onion halves on their ends and cut ¼-inch slices from top to bottom.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, chiles, bell pepper, tomato, garlic, and chipotles and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Season with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Reduce the heat slightly and continue to cook until the vegetables are just tender but still have a bit of bite. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Add the cream mixture to the chicken in the slow cooker. Cover and cook 1 hour on low.
Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving with the avocado slices.
VARIATIONS
• For a quick variation on this recipe, cook and debone the chicken as directed, then cook the onion, chiles, bell pepper, tomato, garlic, and chipotles as directed. Then, in a sauté pan, combine the chicken and vegetables. Add 2 cups of the cooking liquid from the slow cooker to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the cream and simmer 10 minutes more, until thickened.
• To tone down the heat, omit the chipotles and add 1 tablespoon soy bacon bits to the chicken in the slow cooker to add a little smoky savor. Substitute green bell pepper or Anaheim chiles for the poblanos and jalapeños.

Pollo en Salsa

Pollo en Salsa
CHICKEN IN
TOMATO-JALAPEÑO SALSA
Serves 6
This dish is traditionally made with a whole chicken, which is cut into pieces and cooked slowly until tender. This results in a wonderful flavor, of course, but you can substitute boneless chicken if you prefer, which will also shorten the cooking time. The chicken finishes by simmering in a fresh tomato sauce, made medium-spicy with jalapeños. Turn up the heat by using
picante
serrano chiles, or substitute poblano or Anaheim chiles for great flavor but little or no heat. Serve with warm tortillas, beans and rice, or roasted potatoes to mop up all that wonderful sauce. Any leftover chicken, shredded in the sauce, makes an excellent filling for tacos, enchiladas, or tamales.
1 tablespoon fresh lard or vegetable oil
4 pounds chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, or a combination)
2 cups water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 large Roma tomatoes (about 2 pounds total)
4 large jalapeño chiles, stemmed and seeded
½ white onion, coarsely chopped
4 large cloves garlic
TO SERVE
Chopped fresh cilantro
In a large, heavy skillet, heat the lard over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook, turning occasionally, until golden on all sides. In a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker, combine the chicken, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, until the chicken is just tender.
Thirty minutes before the chicken is finished, combine the tomatoes, jalapeños, onion, and garlic in a 4-quart saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the jalapeños are barely tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, transfer to a blender, and puree until smooth.
Drain the chicken pieces, saving the broth for another use. Return the chicken to the slow cooker and pour the salsa over the chicken. Cover and cook for another 2 hours on low (or 1 hour on high), or until the chicken is tender but not falling apart and the salsa has thickened.
To serve, sprinkle the cilantro over the hot chicken.
VARIATIONS
• For a quick and easy variation on this recipe, puree the uncooked tomatoes and other vegetables with 1 cup water or chicken broth and 1 teaspoon salt. Pour over the chicken pieces in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
• If you want to make this recipe ahead, cook and drain the chicken as directed and then refrigerate the chicken until needed. Thirty minutes before serving, make the salsa and pour it into a large skillet. Add the cooked chicken, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through and the sauce has thickened slightly.
 
MOLES
The word
mole
refers a whole class of unique sauces for which Mexico is justly famed. Ancient moles, which incorporate local chiles, seeds, nuts, fruits, herbs, spices, bittersweet chocolate, and often corn—all of which are native to Mesoamerica—are the purest expression of Mexico’s indigenous
terroir
. Using the most basic cooking implements—stones to crush and grind
(mole),
fire, clay pots, and griddles— pre-Hispanic cooks toasted and pureed chiles, ground seeds, pounded fruits and vegetables, and simmered and strained, transforming these ingredients into smooth sauces of amazing richness and complexity. With the exception of imported spices such as clove, black pepper, and cumin, moles today are probably very similar to those of a thousand years ago.
In spite of their fearsome reputation for requiring long and complicated preparation, moles are really just thick sauces based on chiles, and there are many simple recipes and variations based on local ingredients and traditions. (The array of ingredients used for Mole Negro is pictured
here
.)
It’s important to understand that the mole sauce
is
the dish. So it’s not chicken with mole sauce; it is a mole with chicken, and the meats are the garnish. The “big” moles, such as
Mole Negro
, are often served with tamales instead of meat.
The slow cooker makes moles with authentic flavor, without the multiple steps and hours of grinding, pureeing, frying, and simmering (not to mention pots to clean). An inexpensive food mill is essential for removing the skins and fibers from the sauce, which reduces bitterness and creates a velvety texture that drapes on the plate like a soft blanket.
As for the meat that will accompany the mole, a native wild turkey
(guajolote)
is most authentic. An heirloom breed of turkey would also do nicely, though both will take longer to cook than chicken. Free-range and kosher chickens are much tastier than your average supermarket chicken. For the best flavor, birds should always be cooked with the skin and bones. You can easily remove these, if you like, after the chicken is cooked.
Mole Negro
BLACK MOLE
Serves 6
Rich, thick, velvety smooth, and deeply colored,
mole negro
is the queen of moles. Making it can be a big production, too, a seemingly endless series of toasting, blackening, grinding, and frying to produce that mystically deep, almost black color. This slow cooker version is just as delicious and
much
easier. The tiny touch of chocolate at the end seems odd, but it is exactly the right amount of sweetness needed to balance the powerful chiles. You will taste the difference. Use any leftovers to make
Enmoladas de Pollo
. Or you may make the mole without the chicken (
see Note
) and pour the mole over
tamales
or roast turkey.

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