Hongos en Mole Verde Oaxaqueño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy 4-quart pot
• •High-powered blender
• •Wooden spoon for stirring the mole as it fries

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the pepitas

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Add the pepitas in a single layer. Toast them, shaking the pan often, for three to four minutes. They will pop, swell, and turn pale gold. The kitchen will smell like roasted seed and warm oil. Pull them off the heat the moment they color. Burned pepitas turn the mole bitter and there is no recovering from it.

   Pepitas keep cooking off the heat. Slide them onto a cool plate as soon as they smell toasted, not when they look done in the pan.
2. 2

   Char the tomatillos and chiles

   On the same comal, char the tomatillos, serranos, jalapeño, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat. Turn them as the skins blister. Tomatillos take about eight minutes and will go from bright green to olive, with dark spots and a softened, slumped shape. Garlic chars fast, pull it first. This dry-charring is what gives mole verde oaxaqueño its body. Boiling the tomatillos washes the flavor out. Asi se hace y punto.

3. 3

   Build the green base

   Transfer the charred tomatillos, chiles, onion, and garlic to the blender along with the toasted pepitas. Add the hoja santa, epazote, cilantro, and parsley. Pour in one cup of warm vegetable broth. Blend on high until you have a smooth, deep green puree. The pepitas should be ground completely, no grit. If the blender labors, add another splash of broth. The puree should be thick but pourable, like a heavy cream.

4. 4

   Sear the mushrooms

   Heat one tablespoon of manteca in a wide cazuela or heavy skillet over medium-high. When it shimmers, add the mushrooms in batches. Do not crowd them or they will steam and turn rubbery. Sear without stirring for two minutes, then toss and sear another two. They should be deeply browned at the edges and tender in the middle. Salt them as they cook. Set aside on a plate.

5. 5

   Fry the mole

   Add the second tablespoon of manteca to the same cazuela. Heat over medium until it shimmers. Pour in the green puree all at once. Stand back, it will sputter. Stir constantly for five to seven minutes. The puree will darken from bright spring green to a deeper, sage green and the fat will start to break around the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This is the step that turns a thin salsa into a mole. Skip it and you have soup, not mole.

   If the mole spits aggressively, lower the heat. You want a steady simmer, not a violent boil. Violence breaks the emulsion the pepitas built.
6. 6

   Loosen and simmer

   Whisk in two more cups of warm vegetable broth. The mole should coat the back of a spoon but still flow. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for fifteen minutes, stirring every couple of minutes so the bottom does not catch. Add salt to taste. The mole should be assertive, the herbs forward, the heat clean.

7. 7

   Finish with the mushrooms

   Slide the seared mushrooms and any juices on the plate back into the cazuela. Stir gently to coat. Simmer five minutes more, just enough for the mushrooms to drink in the mole and for the flavors to settle into one another. Tear in a few extra epazote leaves at the very end. Their flavor is volatile and a final hit at the table wakes the pot up.

8. 8

   Serve in the cazuela

   Bring the cazuela to the table. Serve into shallow bowls with warm corn tortillas, a spoonful of black beans on the side, and lime wedges. The mole verde stains the plate and the bread of the tortillas the way it should. Eat with your hands. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Hoja santa is non-negotiable. If you are in the United States, look for it at Mexican mercados in California, Texas, Illinois, and the Northeast. Some growers ship it. If you absolutely cannot find it, the mole is no longer mole verde oaxaqueño, it is something else. Do not use bay leaf or basil and pretend.
• •Use the freshest epazote you can find. Dried epazote is a compromise that loses most of what makes the herb interesting. If your only option is dried, double the amount and add it earlier so it has time to wake up in the broth.
• •Wild mushrooms are best in late summer and early fall. Out of season, a mix of cremini, oyster, and shiitake gives you depth and texture without forcing the dish onto a Pinterest schedule. Cook with what the market is selling today.
• •The mole tightens as it sits. If you are reheating leftovers, loosen with a splash of warm broth before serving. Do not boil it hard, the green will turn olive and the bright flavor will fade.

Advance Preparation

• •The pepitas can be toasted up to two days ahead and stored in an airtight jar at room temperature.
• •The tomatillos and chiles can be charred up to one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before blending.
• •Mole verde is best the day it is made. The herbs lose their brightness overnight. If you must hold it, refrigerate no more than one day and reheat gently with extra fresh epazote stirred in at the end.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)