Madame Chocolat’s Blog:
My Beloved Chocophiles,
I only subscribe to 2 paper magazines these days, Baking and Pastry NA – because Chef Love always has something good in there and the wonderful photographs of decadent pastry on those glossy pages gets me all excited!!! The other magazine I subscribe to is Woman’s Health – it is no nonsense good, with all sorts of great tips on health and other things that I, as a woman, enjoy tremendously. I can take it to the gym and read it during a good cardio workout on a machine.
Imagine my delight and surprise, as I was hoofin’ it on the Stairmaster early this morning, to find this yummy article on chocolate and health in last month’s issue!
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/chocolate-health
The magazine fell open to page 133 and a beautiful photograph of Poached Chicken with Chocolate Mole (pronounced “moh-lay”). The lead-in caption read, “rich, seductive, orgasmic.” Oh, my… surely this would count as food porn…? Add to that a suggestion from Chef Antonorsi (Chuao Chocolatier) of topping a slice of warm toasted baguette with dark chocolate and, as it melts, drizzle with a little olive oil and sea salt. Ooooooh! Be still me beating heart! I think the sweat I had managed to build up at that point masked my blush… thank-goodness!
The article is great, touting the benefits of higher cocoa contents and more flavonoids. It touches on the research regarding some of the neural, cardiovascular and immune system boosts you can enjoy from consuming cocoa and chocolate.
The best part of this article is all the wonderful looking recipes that follow the story. Not all of them are sweet; in fact, the savory dishes that include chocolate are very alluring, indeed!
I probably should have waited to write about this until I tried some of these recipes, but, do forgive me, I got a little excited! Wouldn’t it be more fun anyway if a few of us tried these tempting goodies and compare notes? – I think we’ll learn more that way and cover more territory – so many chocolate recipes and so little time!
I’m going to try out the mole. I have an affinity for this traditional dish that comes from the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca – the very first lands of cultivated cocoa. However, not all moles include chocolate (gasp! Say it isn’t so!).
There are many legends of how mole came into being and one of the most popular can be traced back some 250 years ago to nuns in the Covenant of Santa Rosa. It was a little something special they served for the visiting archbishop at the time.
Most of the recipes for moles I’ve seen have an extensive variety of herbs, spices and distinctive chilies. I have used many different meats, but my favorite protein to use is turkey – it is what was traditionally used in the first recipes. (I bet it would be great with tofu, too!) What’s more, if you’re looking for a good use of leftover turkey, I cannot think of a better one. And, if you do go the mortar and pestle route, it’s a great forearm workout – ha!!
I cannot wait to try this recipe! It incorporates poached chicken breast with a little thyme (nice lean thought – gotta luv that!). Perhaps, I will try replacing the almonds and walnuts with the more traditional pumpkin seeds and pine nuts as my son has a sensitivity to tree nuts. This recipe has a long list of ingredients, as all good moles do – such layers of flavor and yummy goodness!
If you like this one, might I also make another suggestion? Chef Bayless is a mole master and every recipe that I have tried from his Sole of Mole series are all crazy-loco-good!!! So good, in fact, he was invited to prepare his legendary Black Mole at the White House State dinner honoring Mexican President Felipe Calderon last May. Ole!
I should also mention that there are some terrific prepared moles available. We will have several to choose from at the shop. Heidi, PL&C’s beloved Gift Guru, is sourcing them for you as I write this. You go Giftress!
Admittedly, I have yet to find a mole I didn’t amore! Enjoy!
Warmest, Sarah
