Smokey Turkey Almond Mole: Oct '02

[valchemist]

Thumbs way, way up on this one. It is most wonderful!!! This is the best CL dish I have made in a long, long time.

I couldn't fine the Anaheim chiles so I used 1 whole chipotle (the recipe said you could use 1/2 to 1 whole chipotle). I accidentally used two 12-inch corn tortillas instead of two 6-inch ones. But that's ok -- they are there to thicken the sauce, and my sauce definitely didn't end up being too thick. So next time I will use two 12-inch tortillas again. I used 4 cups of Perdue shortcuts chicken.

The sauce is absolutely to die for! You can definitely taste the almond butter, but you wouldn't know what this "secret ingredient" was unless you had seen the recipe. I love the undertone the almond butter gave to the dish. And the spiciness was right on! Loved the flavor. So excellent.

A definite repeater, so I typed it into my Mastercook. Here it is:


* Exported from MasterCook *

Smokey Turkey Almond Mole

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Main Dish Poultry


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 c roasted almonds -- (I used the salted kind)
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
2 dried Anaheim chiles -- stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 c chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 chipotle chile canned in adobo -- chopped
1 1/2 c fire roasted crushed tomatoes -- such as Muir Glen
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cloves
2 6-inch corn tortillas -- torn into pieces
14 1/2 ozs vegetable broth
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 c chopped turkey breast -- (or chicken)
cilantro sprigs -- optional

Place almonds in food processor and process until smooth (about 2 1/2 minutes) scraping side of bowl once. Set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high. Add Anaheim chiles; saute 1 minute or unitl softened. Add onion and garlic and saute 4 minutes or until onion is lightly browned.

Add chipotle, tomatoes, sugar, spices, tortilla pieces, and broth to the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Spoon the mixture into a food processor and process until smooth. Return mixture to pan; stir in almond butter and vinergar; cook 1 minute. Stir in turkey. Garnish with cilantro. Yield 4 servings. Serving size: 1 cup.

Source:
"Cooking Light, October 2002"

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NOTES : 366 calories (30% from fat), 12.1 g fat, 40.7 g protein, 6.2 g fiber.

[pilgrim719]

I just got my Oct CL today and haven't even opened it yet and I'm already drooling over this recipe! This sauce sounds really great! I was wondering what you served with it, some kind of rice and/or veggies? Thanks for sharing your review!

Kari

[cori44]

Thanks for review. I'll definitely make it. Fiance is a big mole fan.

[valchemist]

I served it over rice. But it would also be great with a big chunk of bread as the starch. The bread would be good for sopping up every last drop of the yummy sauce. A side of green veggies would be good, but I was a bad girl and didn't have veggies with it.

[wallycat]

Thanks for posting...
after your success with the lentil/sausage thing from BA, I don't doubt you!!!
I appreciate your posting the recipe. Our library hasn't gotten the October in yet....but if it's as wonderful as everyone is saying, I'll go run out as soon as I see it on the stands here

One question...I always have jars of almond butter in the fridge...think it'd work OK to just sub the almond butter???

[valchemist]

I have never seen or used prepared almond butter. but I guess if the only ingredient is almonds, it would work just fine!

[Ralph]

Looks delicious! Thanks for the review & for posting the recipe. Now if only the mailman would cooperate...

[Terrytx]

Just got my new mag yesterday and this is the first recipe I want to try. Thanks for the great review.

[TheresaM]

Am I missing something here, if you just put almonds in the processor, doesn't it produce crusted/puree/crumbed almonds? I had to do this for the herb crusted won ton (Sep.02 issue) and it did not make almond butter ???

[valchemist]

If you continue to process long enough, it turns into a paste. (although I am making something with cashew butter for tonight and the cashews were supposed to turn into a paste after 2 minutes, but after 4 minutes, the butter wasn't smooth. it was a bit crumbly. the almonds were more cooperative than the cashews.)

[eas11]

Thanks, Val. I'm really looking forward to making this one sometime this weekend

Ellyn

[greysangel]

OH YESSS!!!!!

Just think Herbal Essences commercial...that's me at my dinner plate

This was DY-NO-MITE!!!!

A definite repeat!! So easy and so incredibly tasty!

WAHOO!

JeAnne

[lorilei]

Just made this dish last night, and I have to give it a hefty TWO THUMBS UP!

I've been making various types of moles now for a couple of years now, and this one can definitely compete with more high fat versions. Not only was the recipe flavorful, but it was also "faster than average". I used leftover frozen poultry, and I had dinner on the table in less than 1/2 hour!

I made the recipe "as is", but added 2.5 chipotles (since we really do like things hot) and a bit of frozen corn. I served the dish with rice and beans and tortillas. It made a lovely dinner -- and was very filling. We had plenty to save for leftovers

[jphilg]

Wow. I second Val's comment that this is the best CL dish I have made in a long, long time.

I subbed roasted chicken breast for turkey and used dry toasted ancho powder instead of the dried Anaheim, but otherwise followed the recipe.

I've already considered quadrupling the sauce and canning it as Xmas gifts.

October is the best issue we've gotten in a while, and so far, this it the best thing I have tried from October.........

Happy Full Jen

[valchemist]

as a side note, Jen, weren't you going to make the apple tart? Did you try it?

[jphilg]

I didn't make the tart yet....I realized that it would be best with a last-minute baking, and I needed it for a party right after work, so I made a Texas Sheet Cake the night before instead. But soon...!

Jen

[tracey67]

Oh my, oh my!! This is so good! Yet another reason why this board is so wonderful -- I would have completely passed over this recipe if it wasn't for the awesome reviews of this thread. But when Val and Jen both said that it was one of the best ever, and JeAnne is going all "Herbal Essency" over it...well, how could you resist !

Yep, this definitely goes to the top of the list. One of the Top 5 best-ever CL recipes. The sauce is so delicious, and I love that this recipe is so incredibly different than any other recipe I have (gee...guess I don't have too many Mexican recipes). I think the only change I made was that I didn't have an Anaheim pepper so I subbed a Pasilla dried pepper. Not sure what flavor the Anaheim would have added, but the Pasilla sure seemed to make a tasty sauce.

I was also skeptical that the almonds would turn into butter. Especially after about a minute of processing when they were still just powdery, but sure enough, right around the 2 minute mark, they started turning into butter. By 2 1/2 minutes they were perfect.

I'll certainly be making this recipe alot, but especially right after Thanksgiving when we're all wondering what the heck to do with that 5 pounds of leftover turkey (there's only so much Turkey Tettrazini you can eat ).

And for those of you just lurking on this thread...stop right now...run to your kitchen...and make this recipe! Seriously...you'll be glad you did!

Tracey

[claire797]

After reading all the reviews, it looks like I'm going to have to give it a try.

This recipe might also work in the crockpot. You could puree everything into one big mole, throw it in the crockpot with some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cook for 5 hours on low. The chicken would be tender and the flavor of the mole would have a long time to develop.

I suppose I should make it the traditional way first so that I can compare.

[pammy]

I've been lurking for the last couple weeks, but just had to pop in here to say - YUM! Read Val's post earlier this week, and realized that I had all the ingredients at home, so I decided to make it last night. Made a serious boo-boo though, and might have even improved the recipe! DH and I were talking about our crappy days at work while cooking (he stirs, I add) and I inadvertently picked up the Chinese Five Spice instead of the Cumin. Given my bad mood, I was almost reduced to tears - I had already de-seeded and chopped the dried peppers, etc. DH stopped me and said, well, don't most mole's have cinnamon and other aromatic spices (in response to the thread about when you know you are a food dork - well, can you think of any more obvious sign?). So, he wouldn't let me throw it out and start over. I just skipped the nutmeg, and only added 1 teaspon of sugar. It was FABULOUS!!! This will go into heavy rotation, but I think I'm gonna buy some almond butter, just so that it goes even quicker. I'm going to try it the next time the way the recipe is written, but I might just have invented SMOKEY FIVE SPICE MOLE!!!

[tuff2000]

I know this may seem out of the ordinary, but I am curious to know if anyone thinks this recipe might be good with anything other than poultry? Say, maybe scallops or shrimp? What do you think?

[greysangel]

tuff - not sure how the nut/seafood combo would work. Then again I've had shrimp with peanuts and it's delicious! What works great with the cooked poultry is that is the poultry can be shredded which sort of thickens up the meal. With seafood you wouldn't get the same affect though the sauce itself would probably be delicious on top (either shrimp or I'm thinking salmon)

JeAnne

[jphilg]

The sauce is pretty heavy....I think it would overwhelm shrimp or scallops.

I might serve it over grilled tuna, maybe, or with tofu and big chunks of steamed broccoli.

[tuff2000]

Thanks JeAnne! I eat poultry, but I always play around with switching out the protien source in my recipes. So that's why I was so curious about the seafood thing I already bought all the other ingredients for this though, because it seems to be so popular!!

[sushibones]

I am planning on making this, and am curious—did everyone use Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes or did you substitute regular canned tomatoes? There are some Muir Glen tomatoes available here, but the ones I have seen come in 28 oz cans, and I don't think I've seen the fire-roasted ones. They do sound like they would add significantly to the taste. On the other hand, I can't believe everyone had them on hand or went out to buy them, despite the fact no substitution for the tomatoes was mentioned. Thanks for any feedback on this.

[valchemist]

susan,

I have heard a lot about the muir glen fire roasted tomatoes on this bb but I had never got around to buying them. well, for this recipe, I finally did. I think they did add to the dish, but it is hard to say since I have never tasted the dish without them.

val

p.s. I found the muir glen in the health food section of the grocery store.

[Reggie]

After all these rave review, I had planned to make this for dinner tonight. Well I couldn't find any Muir Glen (or any other brand) fire-roasted crushed tomatoes....nor could I find any dried Anaheim Chiles and not one can of Chipotle Chiles, which I KNOW they used to carry! I'm completely disgusted with my local grocery store.

So instead we're having the baked potato soup....at least I found everything I needed for THAT.

--disgusted in NJ

[sushibones]

Ooooh, that is so frustrating. I found what I think are dried anaheims—which is to say they're red, they're medium-sized, they're dried, and they seem to be the right shape for anaheims. The store didn't seem to think it was important to call them anything other than "dried chilies."

The only Muir Glen things I could find were chunky tomato sauce and pear tomatoes with basil. I will be using the pear tomatoes to make lasagne for DH's bday on Monday, so I was glad to find those.

It's always a challenge to try to figure where management thinks is a good place to put unusual products. One store I shop at remodeled last year and thought it would be clever to completely change the locations of where everything had been previously. The first few months after the remodel the store was full of shoppers with vacant looks on their faces asking other shoppers things like, "Have you seen the Bisquick?" It took me months to find the basmati rice which they strategically placed between the canned nuts and the chips. Of course! I should have known that's where it would be.

I could try roasting my own tomatoes and see how that works.

Val, another question. I saw that you had used salted, roasted almonds. Did you just use the snack kind in the can with the skins on? That's what I got because the only other almonds I could find were the bagged ones in the baking aisle. Thanks again for your patience in answering all these questions.

[tracey67]

Hi Susan!

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I did not use the Muir Glen tomatoes. I've had them once before and they really are wonderful, but the only store that sells them is too far away to run out and buy just that one ingredient. I subbed a regular (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes (I think with Roasted Garlic). I just measured out 1 1/2 cups and put the rest of the can in the fridge for another use. The ones that I used seemed to work just fine, but I can't wait to try it again with the Muir Glen ones -- I'm sure they will add an entirely new level of flavor to this already great dish.

Oh...and about the almonds. I bought the kind that comes in a small tin (red plastic lid). I think they are called "Smokehouse" brand and they do have the skins on? These are super salty so I measured out what I needed and rubbed them between a paper towel. I then carefully picked out the almonds and repeated this process with a new paper towel. This seemed to get most of the excess salt out and the final dish wasn't salty at all (but I did NOT add the salt called for in the recipe either).

Oh and by the way...don't you always look for the basmati rice between the canned nuts and chips? It's a natural combination...just like putting all the vinegars smack dab in the middle of the cereals and pop tarts. Sheesh...don't you know anything about grocery shopping?

[valchemist]

Originally posted by sushibones
Val, another question. I saw that you had used salted, roasted almonds. Did you just use the snack kind in the can with the skins on? That's what I got because the only other almonds I could find were the bagged ones in the baking aisle. Thanks again for your patience in answering all these questions.

those are exactly what I used. they had skins and salt and I used them as is.

[sushibones]

Thanks to both of you. Usually I just wing unfamiliar recipes and make it up as I go along. I don't know why I seem to be overcome with the need to get the specifics (probably too much time spent looking for the basmati in the rice and bean section ).

I hope to be making this next week sometime. I was so industrious last week that we'll be spending the weekend eating up all the scrumptious leftovers so there will be room in the fridge for more next week.