An Inspired Cook

Making anything from scratch is the way to go if you have the time and effort to do so.  Mole sauce is a favorite of mine but is a bit complex to make with a long list of ingredients.  When in a pinch for time, I sometimes reach for a Frontera sauce packet for a quick and easy meal.  Frontera is founded by Rick Bayless and makes some of the most flavorful sauce blends you can find that is packaged and ready to go.  I don’t usually promote pre-packaged anything but I will make an exception for Frontera products. This chicken mole makes fantastic nachos but is so versatile it would be yummy folded into tacos, rolled into a flour tortilla for burritos or stacked between corn tortillas for a savory enchilada with melted cheese and a fried egg.  You can’t beat the flavor combinations of rich smoky mole chicken with melted Manchego cheese, jalapeno slices, fresh avocado pico, sliced black olives and verde seasoned sour cream.

Start by browning some boneless chicken that has been cut into strips.  Just drizzle some olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.

Lay the chicken pieces in the skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  I layered a few at a time, then turned them over as they browned to cook the other side. If cooking in batches, remove the browned pieces to a warming plate and brown the remaining batch as before.

Once they are done, toss all the chicken meat back into the skillet.

And pour the rick dark red Mole sauce over the chicken.  Stir everything together and let simmer on low for 3 – 5 minutes. The sauce packet is recommended for 4 pieces of chicken but I only used 1 large breast and had extra sauce to spoon over the nachos.

Just takes a few minutes to heat up and thicken.  Don’t overcook, I’ve learned that the sauce will start to burn in the skillet if left too long. Turn off the burner and set aside while setting up the nacho toppings.

I topped the nachos with Manchego grated cheese, sliced jalapenos, avocado pico, sliced olives, and some verde seasoned sour cream.

I heaped a layer of tortilla chips on an oven safe plate.

Next comes the chicken mole.  One large chicken breast made enough for 3 platters of nachos.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and jalapeno slices.  Pickled or fresh will do.  Now set the oven safe plates into a preheated 325 oven for 5 – 7 minutes or just until the cheese melts.  Be careful when serving, the plates can be extremely hot for a bit.

Now top with the remaining avocado pico, sliced black olives and verde seasoned sour cream.





Chicken Mole Nachos

1 large Chicken Breast, boneless and cut into thin strips
1 package Frontera’s Oaxacan Red Chile Mole Simmer Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil, for drizzling
Tortilla Chips
4 ounces Manchego Cheese, grated
Avocado Pico de Gallo, recipe follows
1/4 cup Jalapeno slices, picked or fresh
1/4 cup sliced Black Olives
1/4 – 1/3 cup Verde Seasoned Sour Cream (combine sour cream with 1 teaspoon Verde Seasoning), recipe follows

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat a medium skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Brown chicken strips on both sides, about 3 – 4 minutes on each side, then turn the heat down to low and pour in the Mole sauce packet.  Stir the chicken in the sauce and let warm for 3 – 5 minutes.

Arrange tortilla chips on an oven safe plate, arrange chicken pieces on top and spoon any extra Mole sauce over top.  Add a layer of grated Manchego cheese and jalapeno slices.  Set plates in preheated oven for 5 – 7 minutes or until the cheese melts.  Remove hot plates carefully when serving.  Top with avocado pico de gallo, sliced black olives and verde seasoned sour cream.

Avocado Pico de Gallo

1/2 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 Jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 clove Garlic, grated on a microplane grater
1 tablespoons green onion, finely chopped
1/4 Avocado, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoons Cilantro, roughly chopped
Spritz of Lime Juice
Salt to taste

In a medium sized bowl, cut the cherry tomatoes into quarter pieces.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix together.

Verde Seasoning

1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Green Chile Powder
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
3/4 teaspoon White Pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Any extra can be stored in a glass container for future recipes.