Surely most people have a rough idea on how to make guacamole, and I did try following the recipe — which isn’t too far off — but consulting someone like Rick Bayless or Lourdes Nichols might be better. Not crucial though, if you follow the recipe you’ll get a rough approximation.
As a big fan of Molé, I have learned how to make it from scratch, so I blew off the chicken recipe, thawed out some brown molé I had in the freezer, poured it over about 10 skinned chicken thighs in a large Cruset, then put that in the oven — covered — at 275F for a couple of hours, then took the lid off and rendered it down at 350F for about an hour. Otherwise, you can use the molé concentrate called for, just be sure to warm it gently in the microwave or you’ll bend your measuring spoon trying to get the paste out of the jar. There’s nothing to this part, you’re just braising the meat in a kick ass sauce. Also, don’t forget to serve it up with some fresh tortillas. Just wonderful.
If you want to blow your mind, get a copy of Rick Bayless’s Authentic Mexican Cuisine, and do the Mole Problano de Guajolote recipe. It KILLS. Do not skimp, substitute or subterfuge the recipe in ANY way, and you will be shocked at how good it is. Also, it has something like 28 ingredients — can’t say enough good things about that.
For the rice, I screwed up by putting it in a rice cooker, which turned it into sticky building material — great tasting — but building material all the same. Again, the liquid to rice ratio was right on the money for serving 6 — had I cooked it uncovered in a wide pan, as shown. Really good.
For the dessert, a little of the El Bulli zaniness crept in: crushed menthol candies (Halls cough drops) over a lemon infused water mellon madness — very, very odd, but very good. The “menthol candies” callout threw me until I flipped a bag of Halls over, and read that the only active ingredient in Halls cough drops is Menthol. So there’s no danger of sprinkling crushed expectorant over your dessert.
Very good.
Cooking Ferran Adriá’s The Family Meal — The Errata