Mole de Olla (Mexican Beef Veggie & Chile Soup)
When shopping for meat, pick the meatiest shanks. If you want more meat, replace the beef neck bones with chuck (cut into 2-inch pieces). If you swap the neck bones for the chuck, also pick up some beef soup bones to ensure you’re still getting a richly flavored soup. Choose small Mexican squash — it has better flavor than more mature ones. If using zucchini instead, quartering will result in chunks that are too large. Instead, cut them into about 1-inch pieces. Peeled chayote can be slippery, so it helps to hold the chayote with a dishtowel while peeling. The soup’s first cook is, at the minimum, an hour-and-a-half of simmering to cook the meat and get the rich bone broth going. While the meat is cooking, you’ll prep the veggies and make the mole. This soup is perfect for meal-prepping as it gets better and better as it sits in the fridge.
Makes 6-8 servings
11 to 2 pounds meaty bone-in beef shank
⁄ 2 11 ⁄ 2 to 2 pounds beef neck bones
Coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Avocado oil, or other neutral cooking oil, for frying
1 large white onion, cut in half, divided 2 large bay leaves
1⁄ bunch cilantro,
2 bundled with kitchen twine
1 cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican cinnamon (Ceylon)
2 tablespoons beef bouillon, such as Knorr or Better Than Bouillon
1 tablespoon sesame seeds 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1⁄ 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole Mexican oregano
2 ears of corn, husks and silk removed, cut into fourths
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 11 ⁄2- inch chunks
2 chayotes, peeled and cut into about 1-11 ⁄2- inch chunks
2 medium red or white potatoes, peeled and quartered, optional 1⁄ pound (3-4) small Mexican
2
(tatuma) squash, quartered or 1 to 2 zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound green beans, tops trimmed away, then cut in half
1⁄ 2
pound tomatoes (about 2-3)
1⁄ pound tomatillos
4
(about 2-3 medium)
2 to 3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled
6 dried guajillo chiles, deseeded and cut into
1 ⁄2- inch pieces
6 dried California chiles, deseeded and cut into 1 ⁄2- inch pieces
2 dried ancho (also called ancho-pasilla) chiles, deseeded and cut into 1 ⁄2- inch pieces
1 to 2 dried morita chiles, deseeded and halved
TO SERVE:
2 limes, each quartered into wedges
1⁄ cup diced white onions
2
(about 1⁄ large onion), optional 2
1⁄ bunch cilantro, rough
2 chopped, optional
Fresh corn tortillas, optional
Prep the meat and start the broth: Add 10 cups of water to a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Generously season both sides of the beef with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a hot, 12-inch skillet on medium-high heat. Cooking in batches, sear the meat until browned on all sides. Remove to a plate and repeat until all the meat is seared. Add the
seared meat to the stockpot along with any of the meat juices collected on the plate. Don’t wash the skillet; set it aside for now. Add half a white onion to the stockpot — preferably the root end, to help keep it intact — while the soup simmers. Add the bay leaves, cilantro bundle, cinnamon stick, bouillon, and a tablespoon of coarse sea salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Lift the lid and skim off any foam and impurities that have risen to the top. Return lid and cook an additional 11⁄ to 2 hours.
2
Prep the spices: Heat a small, dry skillet on medium heat. Once hot, add the sesame, coriander and cumin seeds. Toast, shaking the pan continuously, until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove to a spice grinder, add the oregano and grind until fine; set aside.
Prep the veggies: Use the time the meat is cooking to wash, cut, peel and prep the veggies as instructed in the ingredient list. Set the veggies aside and move onto the next step, which is making the sauce.
Make the sauce: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a quarter sheet baking or brownie pan with foil. Remove and discard the tomatillos’ husks, then rinse to remove the stickiness. Place them and the tomatoes on the sheet pan and roast for 15 minutes, f lipping them halfway through the roasting time. Remove from the oven and transfer to a blender along with any juices they released. Set aside for now.
While the tomatoes roast, fill a medium saucepan the way with water and bring to a boil.
2⁄ 3
of
Add a generous tablespoon of oil to the skillet you cooked the meat in and heat on medium-high until shimmering.
Cut the remaining half onion into two thick rings. Add them to the pan along with the peeled garlic. Cook on all sides until golden. Transfer them to the blender with the tomatoes. To the same pan, add the chiles and fry, stirring the chiles continuously to keep them from burning, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the chiles are fragrant and have started to plump and blister. Add the chiles to the boiling water, turn off the heat and steep for 20 minutes; set skillet aside, but don’t wash. After the chiles have steeped, add them to the blender along with 1⁄ cup of the steeping liquid. Blend
2 on high until completely smooth (3 minutes in a high-powered blender, up to 7 minutes in a standard one). If you don’t have a high-powered blender, also strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, discarding the pulp left behind. Put the skillet back on medium heat, and once hot, carefully pour in the chile sauce (caution is needed as it will splatter). Whisk in the sesame seed spice mixture, turn heat to lowest setting, cover and simmer for 10 minutes; turn off heat and reserve until the meat has finished cooking.
Finish the soup: After the meat has cooked for 11⁄ to 2
2 hours (or until it’s fork-tender), remove and discard the bay leaves, cilantro, cinnamon stick and onion. Pour the fried chile sauce into the stockpot. Add the corn and simmer, covered, on medium heat for 25 minutes. Add the carrots, chayotes and potatoes, if using, and simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes. At this point, taste the soup for salt, adding more to taste, if needed. Toss in the Mexican squash and green beans and cook until a fork pierces easily, but the squash is still firm, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the soup rest for 15 minutes before serving. Serve in large bowls with a wedge of lime on the side, adding the lime juice just before eating. Garnish with cilantro and diced white onion. Roll up warm corn tortillas to dip into the broth.
To store: Allow soup to cool completely before storing in tightly covered containers, preferably glass, in the refrigerator (the red sauce will stain most plastic containers). It should keep for up to 5 days, although the squash will be very soft come day 5.