You've never tasted a mole like this one, made with shrimp. It's original and creative but based on classic mole ingredients, with a few tweaks.
The recipe is in "Pescan: A Feel Good Cookbook" by Abbie Cornish (at right) and Jacqueline King Schiller.
Cornish and Schiller are best friends who cook together. Cornish is an actress. Schiller, a model, has the blog The Feel Good Kitchen. She's the chef, and Cornish is the artist, stylist and recipe tester. Together they've produced a beautiful book with fresh, delicious, easy-to-make food.
Schiller's grandfather came from Oaxaca, so she's rooted in Mexican tradition, and the mole is her recipe.
The surprise ingredient is tahini. You've eaten mole sprinkled with sesame seeds, so this makes sense, because tahini is sesame seed paste. It's "an easy way to add a lot of sesame flavor," Schiller said.
Chocolate is often in mole too. Schiller's variation is to add cacao powder and cacao nibs. Instead of dried chiles, she puts in chili powder, a jalapeño and a dash of cayenne.
Mole sauces are complex, with long lists of ingredients. "I tried to come up with something that was equally complex and flavorful, but a little more practical," she said. Here is how the mole appears in the book.
Most often, chicken comes with mole sauce, but this book shuns meat, poultry, dairy and refined sugar. If a recipe isn't gluten-free, ways to make it so are suggested. Fish and shrimp are included because they provide important nutrients.
Cornish and Schiller adopted this sort of diet to improve their own health, and they've added comments about feel good ingredients and nutritional pointers to the recipes.
What to serve with the mole? Schiller's Fiesta Black Beans, from her Mexican-American family.
And Fiesta Veggie Rice, which contains cumin and Mexican oregano.
Both were in the lunch lineup when the authors presented their book at Melissa's Produce.
This is how the shrimp, beans and rice would look on a plate for dinner. With them is a quinoa salad with kale sprouts, radicchio, watermelon radish and dried cranberries, another recipe from the book.
The mole is versatile. The same sauce can go with baked tofu, roasted carrots or fried eggs, the authors suggest in the book, so vegetarians can enjoy it too.
SHRIMP WITH MOLE SAUCE
From "Pescan: A Feel Good Cookbook"
For the mole:
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 jalapeño chile, trimmed, halved, and seeded
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth
3 tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and roughly chopped
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons cacao nibs
2 tablespoons cacao powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked salt
1 teaspoon kosher sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground anise seed (can substitute fennel seed)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup warm filtered water
Sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds for garnish
Shrimp
1/2 lime
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
Kosher sea salt and black pepper
1 1/4 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 tablespoons olive oil or melted refined coconut oil
1/4 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems for garnish
To make the mole, in a small bowl cover the raisins with warm water and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, jalapeño and garlic and stir to coat with the oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, until softened and browned. If they begin to blacken, lower the heat to low. It's OK if there is a bit of charring.
Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the tomatoes, broth, tomatillos, tahini, pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs, cacao powder, chili powder, smoked salt, kosher sea salt, black pepper, cinnamon, anise seed, cumin, oregano and cayenne.
Drain the raisins and add them to the blender. Then add the softened onion, garlic, jalapeño and the water. Blend, starting on low and bringing up to high speed, until smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides once or twice as you blend.
If you are not using a high-speed blender, you may need to add a splash more broth. Pour the mole into the sauté pan and warm over low heat, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the shrimp, up to 20 minutes.
To prepare the shrimp, in a small bowl, squeeze the juice from the lime over the onion. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and toss. Set aside.
Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. In a large bowl, toss the shrimp with the oil and season with salt an pepper. Add 1/2 cup of the mole sauce and toss. Grill the shrimp until light grill marks appear and the shrimp is just opaque all the way through, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
To serve, pour 1/3 cup of the mole sauce onto the middle of each serving plate. Spread the mole into a circle with the bottom of the measuring cup. Divide the shrimp among the plates. Lightly sprinkle with sesame and pumpkin seeds, about 1/2 teaspoon each per plate. Top with the sliced onion and a scattering of cilantro. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings as an entree or 6 as an appetizer
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