chicken mole and eggplant parmegiano

a request was made for chicken mole and i was pleased to oblige. i began by soaking mulato, oaxaca pasilla, ancho and new mexico green chiles in warm water. i then ground cinnamon, cloves and fennel seed as well as sesame seed, pepitas(shelled pumpkin seed) and almonds. the ground seeds, spices and nuts were set aside while i processed garlic and onion in the robot coupe. when the chiles were rehydrated i removed the stems and most of the seeds and processed them with the garlic and onion. i then added canned tomato and unsweetened chocolate and processed till smooth. the ground spice, seed and nut mixture was added and mixed in thoroughly. the mole base sat in the fridge for about 4 hours until it was time to cook the chicken. i put a thin coat of the mole base on the chicken before cooking in the oven. while the chicken cooked i heated up the mole base with chicken stock to thin it to a sauce consistency from a thick paste. when the chicken was done i added the cooking juices from the chicken to the sauce. the chicken went into a serving insert and into the steamtable to be topped with the sauce and chopped fresh cilantro. i served a choice of quinoa or rice, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes and a green salad with the chicken. for dessert we had strawberry banana trifle. most if not all of the campers quite enjoyed their dinner. the heat from the chiles was there but not in your face and the chocolate gave the sauce and interesting edge.
tonight i made eggplant parmegiano with three cheeses. i grilled the eggplant before layering with mozzarella, feta and parmesan cheeses. i also made a simple tomato sauce with garlic fresh oregano thyme and italian parsley which i added to the eggplant layers. i had fresh basil and tomato slices for layering as well. i baked this for about an hour and a half. i made polenta to serve with the eggplant. instead of cooking the cornmeal in water i used milk instead as i read about this in one of my cookbooks. my goodness but the difference is incredible. the polenta was very light and actually fluffy. when i finished cooking the polenta on the stove i poured it into a pan and liberally sprinkled parmesan cheese over it before popping it into the oven for about fifteen minutes. both the eggplant and polenta dishes received a goodly amountof chopped parsley before service at 5:30. a yummy good dinner and i'm not so fond of eggplant!i got many good comments on dinner so i will likely make this dish again.