Oxtail in Mexican Mole Sauce

After reading Eda’s recipe called Ancho Pancetta Oxtail Mole (see locavore-project-part-2 ) on her website (www.edamame-eats.com) I could not resist but try to make it. I love ox tail and the addition of chocolate in a savoury dish attracted me.

So, last Saturday I went to the supermarket to get all the required ingredients and in the afternoon prepared my version of Eda’s Ancho Pancetta Oxtail Mole.

I was so pleased with the result that I thanked Eda for sharing her great recipe and asked her if she would not mind if I posted a variation of her dish on my blog. As she kindly accepted I am glad to share it with you today.

Believe me it is worth trying and most of all eating it!!!

Ingredients:

• 80g smoked pancetta
• 2 small carrots (diced)
• 1 large celery stalk (diced)
• ½ orange onion (diced)
• 3 small red chile (chopped, with seeds)
• 55cl red wine
• 125ml broth (125ml water mixed with ½ cube of organic vegetable stock). I did not use beef stock as I did not have time to make my own)
• 600g oxtails (separated joints)
• Salt & ground black pepper
• ½ can of tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp oregano  
• 12g dark chocolate (no added sugar) 
• Parsley to garnish

Steps:

1. In a saucepan I browned the pancetta then added celery, carrot, onion and chile, and continued browning everything for about 10 minutes.
2. I added the red wine and turned up the heat to let the wine reduce. Then, I transferred the mixture in a bowl.
3. After sprinkling salt and black pepper on ox tail I added 2 tbsp olive oil in same saucepan and browned the ox tail. Them I transferred the ox tail to the bowl with veggie/pancetta mixture.
4. I lowered the heat and in the same saucepan I added the tomatoes, oregano, cumin and chocolate. I stirred well all the ingredients and added the tomato purée. 
5. Afterwards I transferred the ox tail and the veggie/pancetta mixture into the saucepan and covered everything with the vegetable broth.
6. I cooked the ox tail on low heat for 2 hours (with heat diffuser plate under flame) mixing occasionally.

Below is the photo of the finished dish served with penne rigate. I am afraid that my picture doesn’t give enough credits to the flavour of this delicacy.

The ox tail meat was well cooked and flaked off the bones. The chocolate/chilli-flavoured sauce has a spicy flavour with a sweet aftertaste. So yummy! My husband and I cleaned our plates!

In some aspects (its rich flavour, consistency and wine taste) the Mexican mole sauce reminded me of the rabbit stew’s red wine sauce (civet de lapin) I had when I was small. I recall that my Mum usually serves rabbit stew with a creamy polenta. Next time I make this dish I will also prepare a savoury (or sweet) polenta cake or maybe some potato gnocchi to go with it (is my Italian blood showing? ;)

Notes:

- Mole is the name for many Mexican sauces. They are usually made with one or several types of chiles, spices and chocolate

- Ancho chile is another name for poblano pepper.