Green Mole Chicken
Photo: Amina Malik / Contributor
Last Saturday, a small basket of local tomatillos was laying artfully on a table stand at the Urban Harvest Farmer’s market. Instantly, I was transported to the mole cooking lesson Chef Hugo Ortega had kindly given me this spring, upon my request, at his beautiful downtown restaurant Xochi.
Mole is a family of sauces in Mexico. The word mole (pronounced MOH-lay) comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire and one of the largest indigenous languages in Mexico. Meandering through the kitchen reciting childhood stories, cracking little jokes, Hugo shared his vast knowledge with ease and confidence.
I have yet to try the multi-step deeply complex and delicious mole negro he made in front of my eyes, but as the weather cools, I know I’ll be playing with a few versions. I did pick up that basket of tomatillos and made this verdant green mole chicken. The recipe is a little complicated, but well worth the work. Half the tomatillos are suspended whole in the sauce, and the other half are pureed into the mix. I used copious amounts of olive oil, more than the recipe calls for.