Thanksgiving Weekend: Mole Poblano de Guajalote

For about the last fifteen years, we've been having a pot of leftover Turkey Mole Poblano on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since some of us had enough of elaborate cooking, we opted for the mole paste in a jar, this year using the Rogelio Bueno mole paste. The one that's most common in the supermarket is Doña Maria. The two sauces are similar, though the Rogelio Bueno is maybe a little lighter, and the Doña Maria is a bit darker and spicier. Just avoid the canned mole paste; it's not as good. (Or make your own, if you have a few hours.) The paste is fairly chalky when it comes out of the jar, with a bit of oil on top. Over heat, add about a quart of broth (we used Swanson's chicken broth) slowly to the paste, stirring and breaking up the paste with a wooden spoon, and then add sugar and salt to taste. The sauce should be thick but smooth. We shredded the leftover turkey and added it to the broth, and stir it in and heat it a bit.

We serve this with tortillas, salsa, and guacamole. This is also often used as an enchilada filling, but we like gathering around the table and making tacos and burritos around the table. Our friends the Rasmussens came over, and we all ate mole, drank wine, beer, and eggnog, and had such a good time that everyone forgot all about dessert.

Debbie picked up some very fresh oysters at the farmer's market yesterday, and we ate the small ones raw for lunch. Today I barbecued the larger ones outside, on a very beautiful sunny afternoon. Debbie made Hogwash, which is a mignonette variant using rice vinegar and jalapeños along with shallots.

Then Stuart shot some potatoes from his spud cannon. The potato goes about 100 yards.

We got the tree up and trimmed on Saturday,

And Sushi seemed to enjoy it.