Mole Poblano

Yields 3 Quarts

Dried Chilies, any dirt dusted off, stemmed and seeded
2 chipotle
8 ancho or mulato
4 pasilla negro
4 guajillo
2-3 quarts chicken stock
½ c sesame seeds
¼ c peanuts
½ c walnut pieces
¼ c French bread, cubed
2 oz chocolate, broken or chopped into large pieces
1 cinnamon stick, broken into 3-4 pieces
¾ c peanut oil
2 roma tomatoes, peeled and seeded
4 tomatillos, shucked, rinsed and quartered
2 garlic cloves, peeled
½ large white onion, diced
1 red pepper, fire roasted, stemmed, peeled, seeded and chopped
4 dried apricots, quartered
1 TB fresh ginger, minced
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
½ c raisins
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp allspice
1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into chunks
4 TB salted butter

Preheat oven to 350

In a large dry sautépan over low heat, place the chilies and toast, shaking constantly until evenly toasted, 3-5 minutes
Put 1 quart of chicken stock in a bowl, add toasted chilies to bowl and set aside.

Heat dry pan to medium high heat, toast sesame seeds, peanuts and walnut pieces.
On a sheet pan, dry bread cubes in oven, set aside.

Place chocolate and cinnamon stick in the bottom of a large bowl.
Add toasted seeds, nuts and bread cubes to bowl, while they are still warm. This will melt the chocolate.

Heat peanut oil in a sautépan large enough to accommodate all ingredients, add tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, onion, red pepper, apricots, ginger, apples, raisins and spices and cook until onion is translucent, 7-10 minutes.
Stir in seed, nut, bread, chocolate mixture and sauté to meld.
Transfer pepper to blender, with soaking liquid and puree.
Transfer chili puree to the big vegetable pot.
Add banana and cook 1 hour or more stirring often until contents are softened.
Transfer mixture to a blender or burr mix until pureed.
Stir in additional chicken stock to loosen mixture.
Transfer pureed sauce to a food mill or sieve.
Stir through food mill or push through sieve, discard solids.
Repeat adding more chicken stock as needed, transferring back to food mill/sieve and straining again.
In the end, the sauce should be smooth.
Return to pot and heat through to warm.
Add butter and stir to melt.

Serve over anything!