When I first discovered Doña María’s Ready-to-Serve molé sauce I was really, really skeptical. Molé, a spicy chocolate sauce, is one of those things that I’ve tasted done really, really well and really poorly. And, quite frankly, my expectations were so low that I actually reserved some of the sauce and only made half my enchiladas just in case they turned out bad. But when all was said and done, this was absolutely incredible.

I added a chipotle pepper with adobo to the sauce, which added a really necessary spice and complexity to the sauce that really brought it together. But even as I was spooning it over my enchiladas, stuffed with chicken sautéed with chipotle and lime, sweet onions and red pepper and chihuahua cheese, I still wasn’t entirely convinced this would work.

After baking this at 350º for 15 minutes it was bubbly and smelled incredible. And, when all was said and done, it was just delicious!

I served it up with some Mexican rice (leftover rice cooked up with leftover salsa and a little butter) topped with fresh avocado, and a fresh vine-ripe tomato. It was easily one of the best meals I’ve made in a long time, and you can bet I used the leftovers and the rest of the sauce for an impressive lunch tomorrow. Next time, I’m going to stuff these with nothing but vegetables and cheese for an awesome vegetarian meal.

When it comes to Doña María Ready-to-Serve Mole, I’m a believer.

CONFESSION: I was unimpressed by Frontera Grill. I’ve been fortunate to eat at Rick Bayless‘ Chicago restaurant twice, and while the ceviche is incomparable with any other, everything else was way too smoky for my taste, which is sad because Mexico: One Plate at a Time is one of my favorite cooking shows and I have huge amount of respect for Rick Bayless and what he’s taught me about Mexican cooking.

That said, the Frontera Mexican Pantry products are among the most delicious prepared sauces around. Every time I use them the food is easily restaurant quality; and I’d much rather eat this than the food from the actual restaurant. This time I used the Red Chile and Roasted Garlic Enchilada Sauce. I filled the corn tortillas with shredded chicken that I mixed with caramelized onions and poblano peppers, cooked with some brown sugar to add some extra sweetness. Some chihuahua and sharp cheddar cheese rounded it out.

There was something about the Chilaquiles Verdes (think Mexican lasagna) recipe I saw on Daisy Cooks that inspired me to try it from scratch before I attempt to design some shortcuts around it. And believe me, from the fresh salsa verde to frying my own tortillas, this was a labor and time-intensive dish. There are opportunities for shortcutting that I’ll definitely do in the future.

That said, this was absolutely unbelievable and better the next day. While I’ll probably skip making my own tortilla chips next time and just use premade (too much work for something that ends up mushy), I might just keep making my own salsa verde. I’ve never been a fan of salsa verde but the sharp garlic flavor just made this magical.

I didn’t have a copy of Daisy’s recipe, so I eyeballed it based on what I learned from her recipe on the show. My own Daisy-inspired recipe and instructions follow behind the cut.

SALSA VERDE:

• 12 tomatillos, quartered
• 1 large spanish onion
• 1 head garlic, peeled…yes, the whole head of garlic. I like garlic.
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• Mint leaves (from about 5 stalks of leaves)
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed
• 1 teaspoon Adobo seasoning

Combine all these ingredients in a blender until puréed. The flavor will be very sharp and bitter because of the garlic and tomatillos, but the cooking will make it milder and almost sweet. Seriously, it’s like magic. Pour purée into a saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least one hour, until some of the moisture is cooked away and the color turns to a pretty olive green.

CHILAQUILES:

• 1 whole chicken, or four chicken quarters (I used legs & thighs, 29¢ a pound!)
• 12 white corn tortillas, fried, or 12 unsalted tostadas
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I used a mix of chihuahua, pepperjack and sharp cheddar)
• 1.5 cup and .5 cup salsa verde, keep separate

1. Put chicken in crock pot with seasonings. I used the remains of a jar of mustgo salsa, and some Penzeys Sunny Spain pepper seasoning. Cook for 3-4 hours on high.

2. To fry tortillas, I cut them into strips and used a mixture of corn and peanut oil. Take them out before you think they look done; by the time they look done they’ve already gotten a bit too dark and bitter. Incidentally, these are by far the best chips i’ve ever had and they require no salt to be delicious. Unbelievable. But I digress.

3. Preheat oven to 350º. Shred the chicken when it’s done, keeping it in a separate mixing bowl. Add the 1.5 cups of salsa and mix it up good.

4. Put a layer of chips on the bottom of your lasagna pan. Spoon a layer of half the chicken/salsa mix. Layer with cheese and repeat. For the top layer, just use chips, the reserved salsa, and the rest of the cheese. It will look like this.

5. Bake for 45 minutes until it’s bubbly and browned on top. Serve with sour cream or all by its lonesome. So flavorful, so amazing.

I never would have thought of using tunafish in tacos. But when Rick Bayless made some on his show, I knew I had to try it. I had some Sweet & Spicy tuna packets (Aldi’s generic competitor to the StarKist brand) that, to be honest, I was kind of terrified of, and they’d been living in the pantry for far too long. I had made some questionable tuna salad with it and had no idea what to try next; now I knew.

I didn’t have the canned chiles that Rick used in his recipe for Tuna in Jalapeño Escabeche, but I figured this would do in a pinch. I sautéed the tuna with some onions in olive oil until heated through. I chopped up a roma tomato, some more onion and a handful of fresh cilantro, and I shredded some chihuahua cheese. On some fresh white corn tortillas I picked up I spread some crema poblano (Mexican sour cream) and topped it with all the goodies.

I also made my favorite guacamole, which is basically just an avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro, some crema poblano, juice from half a lime and Penzey’s Salsa Seasoning.

Mexican grocers are an amazing place, and I especially love my local Farmers Best Market. Not only are things like tortillas and peppers fresher than you’ll find anywhere else (simply because they move faster there), but they’re authentic and inexpensive. The queso chihuahua found at other stores for $5-$6 for a pound can be bought in bulk for only $3 a pound. There are tons of authentic sour creams, cheeses, salsas, meats and more. We stop at Farmers Best about every other month to load up on authentic Mexican goodies because while Old El Paso is fine if it’s all you have access to, there’s just nothing to compare to the real thing.

Sorry, the photo of this just didn’t come out. I need to develop a new technique for taco photos!

I prepared these fajitas using Lawry’s Tequila Lime Marinade that I included with some chicken strips in a FoodSaver bag when I froze them. I served this with some red and green pepper, sautéed with sweet onions, some spinach, V&V Supremo Foods Crema Ranchero (by far the best authentic Mexican products), and some chopped orange tomatoes and shredded sharp cheddar.

Fajitas are always a favorite in this house!

And since I’ve been asked countless times about these cups… It’s from the 2008 Mardi Gras parade, procured for us by our friend Angela. We have a whole great collection!