Butternut Pork Mole Soup with Forte Chocolate #Choctoberfest

I was provided with Forte Chocolate for this sponsored post as a part of #Choctoberfest.  

All opinions, photos and recipe are unsolicited and are my own.

I have mentioned before how much I love mole - the savory chocolate sauce from Latin and Central America that I can never pass up when it's on the menu.  So, I knew, when I was accepted to receive some of Forte's Chocolate bars, that at least one dish I'd try was some sort of mole.

Forte chocolate's motto is "Celebrate Life Through Chocolate" and part of the way they do that is to showcase the many ways chocolate is perfect in savory dishes as well as desserts.  They make it easy to discover the goodness that chocolate brings to meals of all sorts by developing a line of chocolates called "Gusto" that specifically are meant for savory dishes. (They also are high quality chocolates that are delightful to eat on their own!)

These are just a few of the unique and delicous chocolate bar blends that Forte has created!

My daughter and her family are staying with us this month while they get settled in the area after several years overseas, so I've been having a lot of fun discovering new dishes to share with them.  It turns out that mole is something they've never tried!

My initial idea was to use the Aztec Soul bar to make this mole soup, but I was afraid it's flavor notes might get buried in the other spices, so I went for the Orange Jazz instead.  The result was amazing - the citrus notes added an extra depth to the earthy flavors of the mole.  We all agreed that this was a soup we'd make again - and soon.

Mole is not usually a soup, but a sauce used on pork or chicken, over rice or in a tortilla or stuffed in a poblano.  Adding the butternut squash and the Orange Jazz chocolate made this a really wonderful Autumn meal.

We used leftover shredded pulled pork - if you do not already have some cooked pork at ready, a couple pork loin chops, cooked and diced into cubes will work well.  

Orange Jazz Butternut Mole Soup

Serves 4-6

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2" cubes

Cooked shredded or cubed pork

4 Roma tomatoes

1 onion

5 garlic cloves

1/2 can chipotle chiles with adobo sauce

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. fennel seed

2 Tblsp. cacao nibs

2 Tblsp. olive oil

1 Tblsp. brown or raw sugar

8 cups chicken or pork stock

1-2 bars Forte Orange Jazz Chocolate (or 1 bar Orange Jazz and 1 bar Aztec Soul)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional Garnish:

Mexican Crema or Creme Fraiche

Crumbled Manchego cheese

Fresh cilantro

1. Prepare butternut squash and set aside.

2. Cut tomatoes and peeled onions in half and lay on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with peeled garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil and roast 10-15 minutes until soft and slightly charred.

3. Combine roasted vegetables, chipotles with sauce, spices and cacao nibs in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

4. Heat additional olive oil in a soup pot, and carefully add puree and sugar to the pot, stirring and cooking for about 5 minutes until fragrant.

5. Add butternut squash, pork and stock, and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, cover and simmer at least 20 minutes until the squash is tender. (We simmered ours for nearly an hour without any harm - I like the longer time to meld the flavors well.)

6. A few minutes before serving, melt the Forte chocolate into the soup, stirring. It will thicken slightly with the addition of the chocolate.

7. To serve, ladle into bowls, and drizzle with the crema, sprinkling cheese and fresh cilantro on top if desired.

Forte has a Buy 3, Get 1 Free offer on their website - just use the code CHOCTOBERFEST2018 when you check out!

Follow Forte Chocolates on social media for more promotions and great ideas for enjoying unique and delicious chocolates: 

Forte Artisan Chocolates

Forte Chocolates on Pinterest

Forte Chocolates on Facebook

Forte Chocolates on Instagram

Forte Chocolates on Twitter

Also, don't forget to enter the Choctoberfest Giveaway this week to win a huge prize that includes an Instant Pot, cake decorating equipment and goodies from Forte as well as the rest of our sponsors!

Check out what other bloggers are sharing today for Choctoberfest:

An InLinkz Link-up