Kaimusailing

I put together a shopping list of ingredients for mole sauce: tomatillos, sesame seeds, dried mulato chilies, dried pasilla chilies, dried ancho chilies, almonds, and anise. Other ingredients I had on hand. While shopping at the grocers I looked for any of these items. The other alternative is to order them online, like from Amazon.
.
I had had chicken mole but I couldn’t remember which restaurant. On the phone with Eloisa we concluded it had been a special entree at Southern River Walk. Restaurants routinely use premade sauces and marinades. The chicken mole probably was concocted from a premade sauce. It comes as a paste that is mixed with fresh ingredients. A little goes a long way.
.
I looked at reviews of mole sauces on the internet. I found that the reviewers had their own tastes and their reviews were biased, but the information was helpful. I found a brand that would be acceptable and produced the three moles I was interested, rojo, coloradito, and negro. That brand is Juquilita, rated best by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago where Frontera, Rick Bayliss’ restaurant reigns supremo, probably the USA authority on Mexican cuisine. I purchased all three pastes and probably will give away some, mole is a fad with me right now, and I know I will be on some other kick in a while. Right now it is exploring authentic Mexican mole.
.
The news, about a month old, was that my old delivery skipper, Cap’n Ford, and his mate were robbed at gunpoint after transiting the Panama Canal on the Pacific side. Apparently they are unharmed but the gunmen took everything off their catamaran. I guess they have insurance and will soon have new electronics, cell phones, etc. They had been anchored at Isla Los Pearlos.
.
The news from a certain island in South Florida was that Eloisa’s minivan was still experiencing electrical problems. She replaced the battery and when it died a few days later, the auto parts store tested it and declared it as defective and replaced it. The replacement died and the store replaced it with an upgraded battery. I googled Ford Windstar battery drain and found a multitude of reports. I thought she must have the ultimate lemon-mobile, but there was also a posting that the 2003 Ford Windstar was the highest rated minivan as far as reliability. I purchased a pdf service manual by Haynes for $7.48 on eBay and downloaded it. 308 pages. Perhaps we will be able to find the fault and fix it. She is disconnecting the ground strap on the battery whenever she parks it.
.
I ran out of Good Seasons Italian salad mix which I use to make my balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The alternative is simple, I changed my vinegar to oil ratio from 1:1 to 1:2. To a cup and a half of this mixture add a teaspoon each of garlic salt, black pepper, onion powder, and italian herbs. This last ingredient is by Southeast Grocers, I think it was from Winn-Dixie and it’s the store brand.
.
I was out of bread and went shopping. I decided to get either chicken or pork to pair with mole sauce. Also I bought avocados, a lime, and a small jar of medium salsa, these ingredients for guacamole. At the store was pork loin, the package for $8.43.
.
Back at the boatyard I reviewed Rick Bayliss video about carnitas, mexican pork. He showed how to cook it 3 different ways. It looks like I will sautee for an hour on low heat, then crisp them up quickly on high, then reduce and cook them in whatever mole I choose. I made rice as the base for the dish.
.
The mole paste came in courtesy of Amazon. I chose red mole for the carnitas. I sauteed the pork in a medium pan for an hour on low heat. The pan was cleaned and red mole paste, about ¼ cup, was whisked with water until there were no lumps. I did not add tomato puree because I had none, but will do so next time. The pork loin chops were deboned and trimmed of any remaining fat and shredded into the mole sauce. I should have let things marinate longer, but I knew that when this moment came I would try the concoction out right away. The taste was great even though I took shortcuts and didn’t follow directions. I had the pork with rice and found it was very filling. Two good size chops made about 4 servings.
.
I had three 17 oz. packages of paste and I could see I had enough to last a long time. I would recommend most cooks would be happy with one package. The paste is supposed to be mixed with almost double the quantity of tomato puree and additionally triple the quantity of stock or water. A little paste goes a long way. One 17 oz. package will make 6 pounds of mole sauce.
.
The red mole is good with chicken or turkey and apparently with pork. I am not going to try the others until I’ve run out of the red.
.
The question remains, what about my Ole Mole concoction that I’ve used in soups and chilies, is it any good? Mole can vary almost infinitely and my Ole Mole fits in, but not as complex as the pastes from Mexico.
.
The next day the avocados were ready for guacamole. So simple and easy, scoop them out into a suitable bowl, break them up with a cheap spoon from Walmart, it is sharp as a knife, squirt juice of a lime into the mix, fold in a small jar of medium salsa. Voila! It is so good and easy to make.
.
The image is an acrylic painting of sliced avocados by Herb Vera, it is available for purchase at saatchiart.com.