I actually got this idea because I talked to my mother about how she ate as a child, that conversation did little more than confirm my assumption that my grandmother loved chemical laden food of the 50's and 60's. The little more that it did do was inspire me to try using Dona Maria Mole Sauce again. My family has developed a love affair with Oaxacan Dark Mole sauce. My dad orders it on almost everything when we get Mexican food at restaurants (well, at restaurants that offer it, he doesn't try to get it at La Bamba or El Famous Burrito). My mother and I agreed that Rick Bayless' recipe is one of the best out there for the American kitchen, but a coworker of my mother told her about Dona Maria Mole Sauce. My mother had great luck with it, but I didn't in the past. I absolutely abhorred it, but I was using the "Ready to Serve" variety, which wasn't too tasty.So, I decided to throw together one of my favorite meals from up north, it always reminds me of a simpler time. I can't count the amount of times I'd eaten Banana Enchiladas at Las Palmas along side an 1800 Margarita on the rocks. First things
first: heat some butter up in the pan and slice them bananas. While doing this, I place one cup of beef stock in my pan and start to heat it. After finishing slicing the bananas, I placed 1/4cup of Mole Sauce in the Pan and made my sauce.I generally forget to deal with a side, but this time I didn't. So, what I did was take a can of black beans and some frozen corn and cook them up in that beef broth. All the while I was tasting things as much as I could and making sure that I was seasoning things correctly. The Mole Sauce started out liquidy and disgusting but quickly cleaned up and with the right spices got to a point where it tasted delicious. The beans had to have most of the beef stock cooked out, but took on a very nice meaty taste. The bananas browned up nicely.
Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing with the bananas. I assumed that their natural sugars would have come out in the butter and help to caramelize them, no such luck. I should have added sugar to the butter or fried them at a higher heat. I was afraid of them being delicate, so I didn't turn the heat up too much. Looking back, they could have taken a lot more heat, but... oh well. Now came the time to construct enchiladas! I warmed up a few
corn tortillas (I have an addiction to corn tortillas), busted out the Pyrex and cheese. I wrapped up half a banana (two pieces) per tortilla, placed them in the pan and then sprinkled them with cheese and sauce. After that I placed them in the over at 200 degrees for 15 minutes to melt the cheese.The final product was pretty decent. It wasn't anywhere near as delectable as I remember it being at Las Palmas, but... what are you going to do? The bananas had a raw taste and the mole had a bitter taste. Maybe if I had cooked the bananas on high heat with sugar, I would have achieved my goal, and the mole could have used more sugar and maybe cream. One thing is for sure, the meal definitely was not bad. My girlfriend loved it, she thought it was great. I guess I just had higher expectations for it, since I ate these all the time up north. Blair told me that it tasted
just like when her friend's mother would make them for her in college, so, I guess I've got that going for it. All in all, it was a worth while excursion.
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