Smoky. Rich. Potentially THICC. Traditional mole sauces are prepared with graham/animal crackers to give a certain mouthfeel to coat absolutely everything it touches (including, but not limited to enchiladas, cuts of meat, loved ones, pets, etc).
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Hardware:
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Prep:
Get your steak to room temperature. Generously sprinkle it with kosher salt to start the desiccation process, which dries out the outer layer to get us a sexy crust on that bad boy. Keep your cumin and coriander handy for right before you throw it in the pan, just in case I forget to mention that in the next ten minutes as I write this.
Preheat your oven to 400+ deg F. We'll be roasting a poblano pepper to soften it up here. Or, if you've got a gas stove, char the exterior of a poblano pepper whole and then place it in a bowl with cling wrap over it to let it steam.
Dice your onion. Take a few chipotle peppers out of the jar and roughly chop them. Thinly slice some serrano chiles (mainly for garnish, unless you really want an extra kick in the sauce). Thinly slice some corn tortillas into adorable little strips.
Chop plenty of cilantro for garnishing and to include in your cilantro-lime rice.
Preheat the hell out of a cast iron skillet. I'm talking scorching hot.
Also take your frying pan and heat some canola oil to 350 deg F.
The Business:
Start cooking however much rice you want for cilantro-lime rice goodness. If you're steaming it, A+ on you, because you just use the steamer to keep it warm whilst everything else cooks. I like to use a ton of lime and cilantro in my rice, and don't forget to liberally use some salt.
You can also start to fry up your cute little tortilla strips in canola oil in your frying pan. Once they start to turn brown, take them out to drain on a paper towel lined baking rack. Sprinkle with salt while they're still hot, and feel free to squirt some lime on it too.
Sear your steak in that hot-as-hell skillet. Please, don't overcook it. Put it on a plate and let it rest under some aluminum foil for at least 10 minutes.
I like to use the same skillet to make/simmer the sauce in. Why do more dishes than needed? (This should be read as: Why make your significant other do more dishes than needed?)
Turn the burner that you used to sear the steak down to medium and start sweating your onions in some olive oil. Once they've started to soften, feel free to start adding some Mexican oregano, cumin, ground coriander, chile powder, and your roughly chopped chipotle peppers. Scrape the char off the roasted poblano, and roughly chop it up, omitting any seeds and stem. Throw that in, too. Once your house smells amazing from all of this, turn down the heat to a simmer cover it in crushed tomatoes and a heavy spoonful of adobo sauce in the skillet (note that your sauce will thicken as it simmers). Throw in the bay leaf for maximum flavor infusion. Just remember to pull it out when you serve everything.
You really don't have a ton left to do at this point. Let this sauce simmer for a while. About ten minutes before you want to eat, stir in some amount of your chocolate spread. Depending on how rich, thick, and dark you want it to be, you'll want to add more or less chocolate. If you've sweetened it too much, balance it with some more heat in the form of more adobo sauce, or mellow it out with more tomatoes. If you do the latter, you'll want to cook the tomatoes a little bit longer.
Slice that steak, baby. There shouldn't be any juices on your cutting board because you let it sit for a long time, didn't you? You would never take a bite out of it as per Quality Control?
Serve it up. You can go with my presentation of sauce on the bottom or you can spoon the richness over-top. *cue smooth jazz*
Did I mention that a Margarita Añejo goes exceptionally well with this? Because it does.
Get your steak to room temperature. Generously sprinkle it with kosher salt to start the desiccation process, which dries out the outer layer to get us a sexy crust on that bad boy. Keep your cumin and coriander handy for right before you throw it in the pan, just in case I forget to mention that in the next ten minutes as I write this.
Preheat your oven to 400+ deg F. We'll be roasting a poblano pepper to soften it up here. Or, if you've got a gas stove, char the exterior of a poblano pepper whole and then place it in a bowl with cling wrap over it to let it steam.
Dice your onion. Take a few chipotle peppers out of the jar and roughly chop them. Thinly slice some serrano chiles (mainly for garnish, unless you really want an extra kick in the sauce). Thinly slice some corn tortillas into adorable little strips.
Chop plenty of cilantro for garnishing and to include in your cilantro-lime rice.
Preheat the hell out of a cast iron skillet. I'm talking scorching hot.
Also take your frying pan and heat some canola oil to 350 deg F.
The Business:
Start cooking however much rice you want for cilantro-lime rice goodness. If you're steaming it, A+ on you, because you just use the steamer to keep it warm whilst everything else cooks. I like to use a ton of lime and cilantro in my rice, and don't forget to liberally use some salt.
You can also start to fry up your cute little tortilla strips in canola oil in your frying pan. Once they start to turn brown, take them out to drain on a paper towel lined baking rack. Sprinkle with salt while they're still hot, and feel free to squirt some lime on it too.
Sear your steak in that hot-as-hell skillet. Please, don't overcook it. Put it on a plate and let it rest under some aluminum foil for at least 10 minutes.
I like to use the same skillet to make/simmer the sauce in. Why do more dishes than needed? (This should be read as: Why make your significant other do more dishes than needed?)
Turn the burner that you used to sear the steak down to medium and start sweating your onions in some olive oil. Once they've started to soften, feel free to start adding some Mexican oregano, cumin, ground coriander, chile powder, and your roughly chopped chipotle peppers. Scrape the char off the roasted poblano, and roughly chop it up, omitting any seeds and stem. Throw that in, too. Once your house smells amazing from all of this, turn down the heat to a simmer cover it in crushed tomatoes and a heavy spoonful of adobo sauce in the skillet (note that your sauce will thicken as it simmers). Throw in the bay leaf for maximum flavor infusion. Just remember to pull it out when you serve everything.
You really don't have a ton left to do at this point. Let this sauce simmer for a while. About ten minutes before you want to eat, stir in some amount of your chocolate spread. Depending on how rich, thick, and dark you want it to be, you'll want to add more or less chocolate. If you've sweetened it too much, balance it with some more heat in the form of more adobo sauce, or mellow it out with more tomatoes. If you do the latter, you'll want to cook the tomatoes a little bit longer.
Slice that steak, baby. There shouldn't be any juices on your cutting board because you let it sit for a long time, didn't you? You would never take a bite out of it as per Quality Control?
Serve it up. You can go with my presentation of sauce on the bottom or you can spoon the richness over-top. *cue smooth jazz*
Did I mention that a Margarita Añejo goes exceptionally well with this? Because it does.