Chicken with Green Mole Sauce and sides

I have never been a huge Mexican food fan but Josh just shared with me that Mexican was his favorite.  Too much time eating at Chipolte.  I decided to try something else than fish/shrimp tacos for my Mexican fare.  This was something new and different and is a total winner.  Will continue down the Mexican road. 

One whole chicken cut into 8 pieces

3/4 cup cilantro stems

2 tbsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. whole black peppers

1 large vidalia onion chopped

1 bay leaf

For the sauce:

8 ounces tomatillos, peeled and chopped

2 jalapenos, cleaned and chopped

1/2 cup cilantro leaves chopped

2 tbsp. kosher salt

2 large flour tortillas toasted ( I stuck mine in the toaster )

Place the chicken in a large stock pot and add in the cilantro stems, salt, peppercorns, onion, bay leaf and 12 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer, cover the pot.  Let cook 30 minutes. 

Remove the chicken from the pot.  Strain the liquid and reserve 4 cups.  I set 4 cups aside and used what was left over of that broth for the rice.

In a sauce pan, cover the bottom with canola oil.  Add the tomatillos and jalapenos.  Stir over a medium heat until this mixture becomes soft.  Transfer this to a blender and add the cilantro leaves, salt, tortillas and 1 cup of the reserved liquid.  Blend into a puree. 

In a large frying pan add the tomatillo puree and stir constantly on a medium high heat to this gets thick.  Add the other 3 cups of reserved liquid and bring to a boil and then down to a medium low, stirring on occasion until it thickens.  If it takes longer to thicken, then let it continue to simmer until that happens.

Add the chicken back into the pan and let it cook until it is completely heated through.  I served this with Mexican rice, tortillas, corn salad and a tomatillo salsa.

Tomatillo salsa

Chopped tomatillos – 6

2 large tomatoes – chopped and seeded

1 medium sized vidallia onion

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

lemon juice and salt to taste

Mexican Rice:

2 tomatoes chopped and seeded

1/2 vidallia onion chopped

2 cups of the stock that I put aside from above

Puree in a blender.  Add salt.

2 cups of white rice with this mixture ( which should be 4 cups ).  Bring to a boil in a sauce pan and bring down to a simmer, cover for about 8 minutes or until rice is done.

Corn Salad:

Grilled corn with the kernels taken off

lime juice

olive oil

chili paste

lots of chopped cilantro

salt

Simple and easy but with a nice kick.  Squeeze a few limes, add some chili paste and whisk, slowly add olive oil until this becomes a light vinaigrette.

Serve everything at once with a few sliced avocados