Hello, Amy Valdés Schwemm here, celebrating spring with two recipes using Mano Y Metate Mole Verde.

Spring root vegetables are on the table now! Carrots and purple diakon from Tucson CSA/Crooked Sky Farms, baby onions, and Cylindra beets from the Breckenfelds are very tender. The purple daikon is so mild and the baby beets and carrots sweet, and all prettiest when fresh. I’m sure we’ll have humongous taproots later in the season that will need roasting or pureeing.

I love creamy dips with crisp, raw veggies. My sister makes a spicy and creamy dip from Mole Verde powder and sour cream. Just mix the two ingredients to taste and refrigerate to let the flavors blend.

Common sour cream works beautifully for this dish, but I had milk to use up, so I made homemade cultured ricotta to use as the base.

To make, gently heat any milk in a pot directly on the stove to almost boiling, add strained lemon juice a spoonful at a time, then stir and watch the tiny curds form and the whey turn translucent. (My milk was raw and apparently soured enough to form curds when heated without added acid.) Allow to cool to room temperature, add an envelope of “Bob and Ricki’s Sour Cream Culture” available in Tucson from Brew Your Own Brew.

Strain though a cloth napkin, incubate at room temperature for 24 hours (either hanging in the tied up cloth or in a covered dish). For a smooth texture, whip in a blender or food processor. Salt to taste and refrigerate.

When you add the Mole Verde powder to taste, it can be as spicy or mild as you like. Delicious on tacos or any savory dish where you would use Mexican crema.

 

 

 

Pescado en Mole Verde/Fish with Mole Verde

I’m waiting patiently for the tilapia to grow to harvestable size at a local school’s aquaponic system, so in the meantime, I purchase filets from the market. Simply oil both sides and bake for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. To make the sauce, put a couple tablespoons of chicken fat and one tin of Mole Verde powder in a saucepan, and stir until the paste is sizzling and fragrant. Add a cup of chicken broth and simmer until it thickens. (Any mild oil and broth can be used.) Pour over fish and return to the oven to keep warm.

Mano Y Metate Mole Verde powder is only thickened with pumpkin seeds and sesame, where the other mole powders are thickened with organic corn tortilla meal and/or organic graham cracker in addition to other nuts and seeds. So Mole Verde makes a lighter sauce than the other moles, perfect for spring. It is spicy from roasted green Hatch chiles and jalapeno. The herbal notes are from parsley, cilantro and epazote. See Jacqueline’s excellent posts about each of those herbs.

Serve with plain rice, corn tortillas, and lettuce drizzled with lime juice. I had an anxious tester that doesn’t eat dairy, but I sometimes I add creama and a melty cheese to the sauce, reminiscent of Mariscos Chihuahua’s famous Filete Culichi.

Have a good spring and enjoy the weather and wildflowers, and I’ll be back here in May.

Amy

ManoYMetate.com