Chris Waters Dunn and I had a lot of fun teaching a Central Market Cooking School class on Wednesday night. Mary Lanzi-Martini, general manager of CM cooking school, San Antonio, is a tenured and passionate leader of the team that prepares the while-you-watch meal.
Chris and I demonstrated cooking secrets for some favorite dishes from our new cookbook, “Enchiladas: Aztec to Tex-Mex.”
Our cookbook has some sweet flavors but no formal desserts. We borrowed the multitude of flavors in mole to create a strong interesting final dish, ever-popular vanilla ice cream with a warm, chocolate mole sauce.
Here’s the recipe:
Vanilla Ice Cream with Oaxacan Chocolate Mole Sauce
Yield: 20 ounces sauce
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces ancho or mulato chiles (see note)
8 ounces (1 cup) water
5 ounces (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar
2 1/4 ounces (3 tablespoons) light corn syrup
2 ounces (2/3 cup) powdered cocoa
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably Oaxacan), melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
Ground chile de arbol or cayenne, to taste (about 1/8 teaspoon)
DIRECTIONS
Wipe chiles clean with a damp cloth. Destem and deseed chiles, tear into large pieces, toast a few seconds per side on a comal over medium heat and rehydrate in hot water until soft, about 10 minutes. Strain and discard soaking liquid, squeeze chiles dry, and place in a blender with 8 ounces (1 cup) water. Process until chiles are thoroughly pureed.
Pour mixture into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and add sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Place cocoa powder in a bowl and add enough of the hot syrup mixture to make a paste. Gradually add the remaining syrup, thoroughly mixing until smooth. Stir in vanilla, cloves, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Add the melted chocolate and stir until smooth and fully incorporated. Add ground chile de arbol or cayenne to taste. Strain and refrigerate until needed. Bring to warm room temperature before serving.
TO SERVE: Spoon warm sauce over vanilla ice cream sprinkled with chopped pipettes, pecans, blanched almonds and tequila-soaked raisins.
NOTE: 4 teaspoons ancho powder may be substituted for the rehydrated chiles