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Chicken in Red Chile Sauce (Pollo Ponce)

Randy Kinkel, Mid-day Announcer and "Mozart Buffet" Host:

The Chicken is infused with the rich flavor of  chiles... This simple recipe is NOT a spicy dish, but has concentrated flavor... It´s a little labor-intensive, but the flavor is incredible and it´s worth the trouble. You can experiment with different chiles and meats to get different flavors.  the ones I included taste best to me.  For vegetarians, just make the sauce by itself with vegetable broth and serve over tofu, veggies, potatoes or rice...

"Chicken in Red Chile sauce" ("Pollo Ponce") 30 dried Guajillo or Ancho Chile pods, or a combination of both (you can get these in bags in the "mexican food" section at the grocery) 3-4 lbs boneless Chicken thighs, browned 6 C   Chicken or vegetable Broth 6 cloves Garlic, minced 2 tsp Mexican oregano 1 tsp Cayenne 1 tsp Pepper 1.      Roast the chiles lightly on a frying pan until they soften slightly (this only takes a minute or two)...Be very careful not to burn the chiles-- if any of the chiles seem burned or brittle, throw those parts away.  Remove ALL stems, seeds, and veins.  This goes faster with two or three people doing it. 2.      Break the chiles up into pieces with your hands and simmer in the chicken broth along with the garlic, oregano, Cayenne, for 40-45 minutes. 3.     Blend Chiles and broth in blender a little bit at a time.   4.      Pour the sauce through a sieve into a bowl.  Mash the chile pieces against the sieve with a spoon, until no more liquid comes out, then throw away the mush.  In a Saucepan, reduce the chile sauce down quite a bit, by almost a third. 5.    sprinkle thighs with a pinch of salt, then Brown them in lard, butter, or oil. You don´t want them cooked all the way, just brown on the outside. 6.      Pour sauce over chicken in a some kind of oven-safe baking dish with lid. Bake covered at 325° for 1 and 1/2 hours.  Remove it from the oven and serve the chicken either by itself or cut  into pieces in warm flour tortillas with your favorite toppings (I recommend onions, cabbage, cilantro, sour cream) and a chilled mexican beer. Serves 5 or 6 people. Recommended CD:  Manuel Ponce: The Guitar Sonatas, Jason Vieaux, Azica. Manuel María Ponce (1882-1948), was born in Zacatecas, Mexico.  He spent his early career composing, Conducting, teaching, and writing music criticism in Mexico.  He moved to Paris in the 1920s and after studying  with the french Composer Paul Dukas, Ponce abandoned the genteel salon-music style then prevalent in Mexico, and began applying an impressionistic idiom to works with concise structures and skilled counterpoint.  Later on, he developed a nationalistic style in which he expressed his Mexican origins. Ponce was a very close friend of guitarist Andres Segovia, for whom he wrote almost all of his guitar music. His guitar works in this style became standards in the modern guitar repertoire. His other compositions include orchestral, chamber, and piano music and songs, the most famous of which is Estrellita (1914).