Mole Pasta with Chipotle Cream Sauce

This has been one of the toughest recipes I’ve ever worked with. For six weeks, my family had to eat batches of this pasta until I was satisfied with the look on their faces.

The reality of recipe development is that we have more days of trial and error versus days that we get it right the first few times. It can be frustrating, and I’ve thrown away so much (sob) because it didn’t live up to expectations.

That being said, I’m as stubborn as a mule (or should I say ox) and kept trudging through. I had a mission, and that was to reimagine mole in a completely different way other than how it is traditionally cooked. When I first shared this idea with my husband, he looked at me dubiously, but he trusted in my instincts and kept his mind open.

So today, I present the final version of my mole pasta with chipotle cream sauce. It takes effort and is the longest recipe I’ve ever written by far, but not only is it visually striking, the combination of flavors is stellar. It is spicy, chocolate-y, and brimming with umami, while the chewy texture of the pasta marries well with the silkiness of the cream sauce.

Whether you are in search of a recipe to impress a dinner date this Valentine’s day or a group of people for Galentine’s or Palentine’s, this is sure to impress.

Mole Pasta with Chipotle Cream Sauce

Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 30 minutes

MOLE PASTA:

For the mole spice blend:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cloves

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp aniseed

2 tsp ground ancho chile

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

Instructions:

In a coffee grinder, grind cloves, aniseed, oregano and thyme until powdery and fine. Toss to mix with the rest of the ingredients.

For the mole pasta:

Ingredients:

Mole spice blend

3 Eggs

<300 g All purpose flour*

½ tsp Salt

3- 4 tbsp water*

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, combine flour and spice blend.

Carefully dump onto a working surface and create a crater in the middle. Crack eggs in crater. Using a fork, gently beat eggs. With your hands, carefully knead the flour mixture in with the eggs. This will require a bit of muscle work and will feel dry at first, but keep going for about 8-10 minutes. If your dough consistency still doesn’t seem right, feel free to either add a bit of water or flour. (see notes).

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for thirty minutes.

NOTES:

*Flour+Mole Blend must= 300 g total. A weighing scale works best, but if you don’t have one, the spice blend is about 1 ½ tbsp.

*The softness of the dough must feel like the fleshy part of your palm under your thumb. If it’s too hard, sprinkle a bit of water to soften. If it’s too sticky, use a bit of flour and knead until desired consistency is achieved.

For the plain pasta:

Ingredients:

3 eggs

300 g all purpose flour

Water, for kneading, optional*

Instructions:

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for thirty minutes.

NOTES:

Further instructions:

After resting, unwrap both pastas and cut into four equal pieces. Roll out into logs.

Take one of each kind, mole pasta and plain pasta and twist together. Do the same with the rest. You should have four twists in total.

Take two of the twists and twist them together. Do the same with the rest. You now should have two total.

Twist those two together, pull both ends together and gently knead to create a marbling effect. Do not over knead, otherwise you’ll have a brown lump of dough.

From here, you can roll them out using a pasta machine. I like https://www.loveandlemons.com/homemade-pasta-recipe/ ‘s method of rolling using a pasta machine) or you can roll them by hand using a rolling pin and a pizza roller.

You can also opt to hand roll them into whatever shape you want. https://food52.com/blog/25398-how-to-make-hand-rolled-pasta is a good place to start for hand rolling without a pasta machine. This is great if you’re planning to make a pasta party out of it.

To cook the pasta, boil salted water in a pot and drop the pasta in gently. Hand rolled pasta only takes 1-2 minutes to cook, so keep an eye on your pot. When cooked, it will float to the top. Drain.

CHIPOTLE CREAM SAUCE:

Ingredients:

3 cups cream

2 jars chipotle (I personally like the jarred Costena brand)

½ tbsp garlic powder

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp coarse ground pepper

4 eggs

Olive oil for sauteing

Instructions:

In a stock pan, saute garlic powder in olive oil until fragrant.

Add cream and chipotles and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn down the heat to low.

In a bowl, crack eggs and gently whisk. Gently pour into the cream mixture and whisk gently, making sure your eggs don’t curdle. If you feel your cream mixture is too hot, remove from the heat source.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Optional step: Since the jarred Costena brand’s chipotle is already chopped, you don’t have to blend the sauce. However, it is absolutely necessary if you are using whole chipotles. I personally like my sauce smooth, so I opted to use a stick blender to blend everything together.

SHRIMP:

Ingredients:

2 lbs jumbo (or colossal) shrimp

Olive oil for frying

3 large garlic cloves, chopped OR 1 tsp garlic powder

Pinch of salt

Instructions:

Heat pan to medium or medium-high heat. Add olive oil and saute garlic until fragrant. Add shrimp and cook on both sides until golden.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE:

Ingredients:

Cooked pasta

Cooked shrimp