Mole Enchiladas for Alex Beggs
Sometimes someone writes a piece so beautiful I want to slam my computer shut and throw in the towel. Like, seriously why am I even trying? What business do I have doing this anyways?
Alex Beggs’ piece, Ghosts at the Table-well-it’s one of those stories. She starts off by setting the background with the horror of a historic storm that took place over one hundred years ago in Galveston Island, Texas. She lets us know the macabre tone of her family by mentioning that her mother’s favorite bedtime story was one about “the nuns at an orphanage who tied the kids together to keep track of them in the storm—only to have them drown because of it.” Yeah. Her mother is dark, and I am here for it. How this girl didn’t grow up to be a mortician is shocking.
She jumps from this to another chilling time stamp, by saying, “we’ve scattered the ashes of so many family members in the Gulf that now I can’t swim in those brown salty waters without thinking, Mom? You out here? And a hermit crab will bite my toe, saying, Naw, lady, she was crawfish food a decade ago. There are other things in this water to fear.”
Did I mention we are two paragraphs in. I mean, I don’t know about you but I’ve already forgotten this is an article about food and like, how did she sneak this Poe style scary story into Bon Appétit?!
Beggs let’s us know that it is food that is the salvation of the island. A little two-story restaurant called The Original Mexican Café opens its doors and welcomes the inhabitants in, to find safety from the storm that is life, to enjoy a chicken enchilada. “At the Original you always order the chicken mole enchiladas. Mole can get too chocolaty if the cook is heavy-handed, but here it’s in perfect balance with smoky ancho chiles, served with a side of brothy charro beans and red-stained rice. Hurricanes have come and gone since—so have those we loved and thought we couldn’t live without—but that recipe stays the same and somehow we go on living. For my family the Original’s enchiladas are a dish we return to in times of celebration or gathering, like that Thanksgiving green bean casserole recipe you’ll never tweak a teaspoon of. It allows time to stand still for once. We’re the ones changing.”
Alex goes on to inform the reader that this is where they ate after they scattered her mom’s ashes on the beach and like a good enchilada, this little bit of information adds layers. You can always go to the church of food. You can always expect to bite into the warm heat and chocolate of the mole sauce, and as you do the world can spin and pass by, but you, you can stay in this moment. And if you close your eyes. The ones we love are still there at the table with us.
Don’t open your eyes.
Ok. Open them now though because we are almost at the end of this. For copyright reasons, I am probably not allowed to just flat out print all of Alex’s article, despite the fact that this site makes no money and probably never will. So I will say for the love of all that is good and holy click this link here, and read her story.
Alex sorta nails it. Alex gets it. I’ve never met Alex and I probably never will. But she has seen death. And she knows what I know. What I hope you will learn and know and digest too.
If you see death. All you need to do is close your eyes and eat. And I promise, even if the morsel is small. You will taste life.
Mole Enchiladas
Ingredients
Instructions
- Fill a medium pot with cold water and add potatoes. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and let cook for about 6 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, but not mushy. Drain the potatoes and set aside.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat a large sauté pan to medium-low heat and add the onion. Cook the onion for 3-4 minutes or until it is tender and translucent. If the onion begins to stick, add some water or vegetable stock to the pan.
- Add the garlic and let cook for 2 more minutes. Add greens, and if necessary add a small amount of water. Mix well.
- Once the greens are cooked, add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and stir. Set aside.
- Bring chicken thighs, onion, celery, salt, and 5 cups water to a boil in a large pot. Reduce heat and simmer very gently until chicken is cooked through, 12–15 minutes from the time water starts simmering.
- Transfer chicken to a medium bowl; let cool. Strain broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup (you should have 4½ cups); discard solids.
- Toast chiles in a dry small skillet over medium-low heat until pliable and slightly puffed with a few lighter-colored blisters, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a blender, add raisins and 2 cups broth, and tamp down chiles to submerge. Let sit until softened, about 20 minutes.
- Add mole paste, bouillon paste, peanut butter, and sugar to blender and purée until smooth.
- Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a clean large pot over medium. Pour chile paste into pan (stand back, mixture will spatter!) and cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pot constantly, until paste is dark, glossy, and the texture of ketchup, 8–10 minutes.
- Add chocolate and remaining 2½ cups broth; bring to a boil, whisking often.
- Cook, whisking, until chocolate is melted and sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes; season with salt. Let cool until just warm.
- If using chicken, shred into a bowl and add half of cheese; toss to combine. Season with salt.
- If using potato mixture grab those taters and greens and get ready.
- Heat ¼ cup oil in a small skillet over medium-high until hot but not smoking. Submerge each tortilla in oil just long enough to soften, 10–20 seconds each (they should be slightly darker with small blisters). Transfer to paper towels to drain.
- Preheat oven to 400°. Spread 1 cup mole in a 13x9" baking dish.
- Dip a tortilla in mole in pot, lightly scraping against rim to remove excess. Fill with ¼ cup chicken mixture, or 1 ½ tbsp. of the potato filling, roll up tightly, and place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas (they can be tightly packed into dish). Pour remaining mole over tortillas; sprinkle cheese on top (You can do this for the chicken or the potato version, there's no such thing as accidentally using cheese incorrectly). Bake until cheese is melted and filling is warmed through, 8–10 minutes.
- Top enchiladas with cilantro and onion and serve with rice, refried beans, and lime wedges for squeezing over.