Mole Rojo Clasico with Smoked Pheasant

For Christmas dinner, I decided to rely on the Whole Foods smoked meat service. Since trying pheasant for the first time in October, I had been pondering the possibility of smoked pheasant, and that became the focus of our meal. The pre-smoked, and therefore fully cooked, birds allowed me to spend some extra time on the sauce: mole rojo from Rick Bayless’ Mexico One Plate at a Time. I had made mole once before, but this was my first time following this recipe. This was actually a kind of quick and easy mole believe it or not.

The preparation began with roasting tomatillos and frying and soaking dried chiles. Garlic, almonds, and raisins were also fried. The chiles were pureed first and then cooked down some before water was added. The other ingredients were pureed with the addition of bread, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, and chocolate. That combination was added to the simmering chiles, more water was added, and all continued to simmer. I found that the consistency was a bit thinner than I’m used to seeing, so I left it all to reduce a few extra minutes.

The smoky, rich flavor of the pheasant slathered in mole sauce was just what I’d hoped to concoct. If you haven’t ordered smoked meats from Whole Foods, I highly recommend you try it. Any meat, any time, they’ll smoke it. At least they do at our local store. And, pheasant? It’s like the best, most flavorful chicken you’ve tasted but better. The mole was complex, earthy, spicy, and aromatic. I intentionally added extra dried chiles with some heat, but the finished sauce was well-balanced. The raisins added a little sweetness, the garlic punched up the flavor, the almonds smoothed things out, and the spices tricked the palate in several good ways.

The pheasant and mole were served with warm corn tortillas, green beans with fresh nopales, and purple potatoes roasted with ancho powder. We toasted with a bold tempranillo, and tucked into yet another satisfying and very filling holiday meal. The remaining meat and sauce became pheasant-mole enchiladas. I’m definitely not ready for New Year’s resolutions or light and healthy meals just yet.

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Guest Post on Cooking Books

One of the great things about being a part of the food blogging community is seeing that I’m definitely not alone in the culinary-crazy department, and I say that with all due respect. I know I’m not the only one who could be perfectly happy spending an entire afternoon in the cooking section of a book store or in the kitchen chopping, slicing, sautéing, and searing. A few weeks back, I online-met Andrea at Cooking Books and learned we have in common an interest in food writing, cookbooks, food history, and cooking in general. She writes about her collection of books and prepares amazing dishes from them. I’m sure that our collections overlap, but recently, she’s been writing about and cooking from books by Sara Foster, Laurie Colwin, and Paula Wolfert; none of which are on my shelves. Clearly, there’s always more to learn. Or, the monkey’s always on my back, either way.

I was thrilled when Andrea invited me to write a guest post for her blog, and I’ve finally chosen a topic. I read The Taste of Country Cooking awhile ago but hadn’t cooked from it yet, so I chose a meal from the Fall chapter to prepare and discuss. Visit Cooking Books to read all about my first experience roasting a pheasant, and enjoy all of Andrea’s fantastic posts while you’re there.





*Update:

Andrea has made this a new monthly feature on her site called Off the Shelf. It will showcase a different blogger and a book of his/her choosing each time. I can't wait to check in each month and find out what other people have been reading and cooking.


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