Mole Chicken and Poblano Chile Quesadilla with Roasted Corn Salsa

Quesadillas!

   
     Traditional cheese and chile poblano quesadillas are often referred to as Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches.  About 30 years ago, the only quesadilla choice was a traditional quesadilla.  Southwestern cuisine and Mexican cuisine went through some transformations and the strict cooking rules were set aside.
     Creative California Mexican cuisine and New Mexico style southwestern cuisine had major influences in modern Mexican food.  Chefs in Mexico started creating the new modern Mexican cuisine along with very nice presentations before the California or New Mexico cuisine trends took shape.
     Later, exotic Mexican ingredients became the rage in creative modern cuisine.  Many chefs that had no experience with traditional Mexican cuisine started a Mexican fusion style of cooking.  Some of the recent trends of Mexican cuisine have been using non traditional ingredients and techniques to create some very classy sophisticated Mexican food.
     This quesadilla recipe is a throw back to the early days of the modified California style Mexican cuisine trend.  New styles of salsa were part of that trend.  Mole became very popular in those days.  Quesadillas were no longer made with just roasted poblano chiles and cheese at that time!
   
     Mole Chicken Recipe:
     A pre-made mole paste is a good choice!  Mexican markets offer a wide variety of regional mole pastes.  To make a good mole paste with a mortar and pestle, it takes 2 days of steady grinding!  Mole paste is so dense, that it will burn the motor up in a food processor.  Internet recipes for loose textured mole sauces or pastes are not true mole pastes.  It takes a special grinding machine to make a good mole paste the right way.  
     Heat a sauce pot over low heat.
     Add 1 cup of water.
     Add 2 tablespoons of dark mole paste.  (Dark mole paste with chocolate is used for this recipe.)
     Stir the mole sauce as it warms and thickens.
     Add more water if the sauce becomes too thick.  The ground seeds in a mole paste absorb a lot of water!
     Gently simmer the sauce, till it finishes thickening and becomes a rich medium sauce consistency.
     Set the mole sauce aside and keep it warm on a stove top.
     Place a 6 to 8 ounce skinned chicken breast on a baking pan.
     Bake the chicken in a 350 degree oven, till the chicken is almost fully cooked.
     Remove the chicken from the oven.
     Allow the chicken to cool.
     Coarsely chop the chicken breast meat.
     Place the chopped chicken breast in a small saute pan.
     Add enough of the mole sauce to generously coat the chopped chicken.
     Simmer the chopped chicken in the mole sauce for 15 minutes over low heat.
     Add water if the mole sauce starts to dry out.
   
     Roasted Chile Poblano:
     Lightly brush 1 whole chile poblano with vegetable oil.
     Place the poblano on a baking pan.
     Bake poblano chile in a 350 degree oven, till it becomes caramelized.
     Cool the chile poblano under cold running water.
     Peel the skin off of the chile and discard the stem and seeds.
     Cut the roasted chile poblano into thin strips.
     Set the roasted poblano strips aside.
   
     Roasted Corn Salsa Recipe:
     Bake an unshucked ear of baby sweet corn in a 350 degree oven, till the husk becomes fully cooked and browned.
     Allow the corn to cool to room temperature.
     Peel the husk and silk off of the ear of corn.
     Grill the corn on the cob over an open flame or a hot dry pan, till the corn kernel tips become lightly caramelized.
     Cut the roasted corn kernels off of the cob.
     Place the roasted corn kernels into a mixing bowl.
     Add 2 tablespoons of chopped tomato.
     Add 1/2 of a chopped green onion.
     Add 2 tablespoons of chopped onion.
     Add 10 to 12 leaves of chopped fresh cilantro.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Add 1/2 of a finely chopped green jalapeno pepper.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of lime juice.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of rice vinegar.
     Mix the ingredients together.
     Set the salsa aside and stir the salsa occasionally.
   
     Mole Chicken and Poblano Chile Quesadilla:
     Place some grated cheddar cheese and grated Mexican quesadilla cheese on one half of a large 12" to 14" flour tortilla.
     Place the poblano chile strips on the cheese.
     Place the mole' chicken on the cheese and chiles.
     Place a little bit more of the grated cheese mixture on top of the chicken strips.
     Fold the side of the flour tortilla that has nothing on it over the top of the cheese, chile and chicken side of the tortilla.
     Heat a saute pan over medium heat.
     Add 1 splash of blended olive oil.
     Place the folded quesadilla in the pan.
     Grill the quesadilla, till it becomes a golden brown color, then flip the quesadilla over and cook the the other side.
     Slide the quesadilla out of the pan onto a cutting board.
     Slice the quesadilla into four pie slice shaped pieces.
   
     Mole Chicken and Poblano Chile Quesadilla with Roasted Corn Salsa:
     Place the quesadilla slices on a plate.
     Place a mound of the roasted corn salsa next to quesadilla.
     Garnish the plate with lettuce leaf, a dollop of sour cream, salsa verde, red chile sauce, sliced avocado and sliced green onions.  (Canned or bottled salsa verde and red chile sauce is fine for this recipe.) 
   
     This is one great tasting quesadilla!  The mole chicken and roasted poblano chile flavors are a great combination.  The roasted corn salsa has a spicy sweet roasted corn flavor.  This quesadilla is more of a knife and fork quesadilla rather than finger food.  Festive Mexican cooking!  Yum!  ...   Shawna