Archive for the ‘mexican’ Category

Homesick Texan Posole

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Posted by Kristin

posole

I never really thought much about making posole until recently. Shawn told me he hates hominy, but of course prior to this, he had only ever eaten it out of a can. Canned hominy is a much different animal than dried. It has sort of a squeaky texture that hominy prepared from the dry state doesn’t have. I had a feeling that this “squeakiness” had something to do with his aversion to it.

For Christmas this year, I gave my parents a Rancho Gordo care package with a sampling of several kinds of their dried beans. When I placed the order, on a whim, I decided to get a couple of packages of their dried prepared hominy. I thought I would use it to make green posole, but then Homesick Texan posted this recipe so, I had to make it.

It was absolutely perfect—the pork fell apart into shreds and the broth was rich and delicious. Okay, so it was almost perfect—my hominy didn’t actually flower because I didn’t allow enough time for it to cook, so it was a little au dente and the kernels didn’t open up the way they should have. But this actually didn’t bother me a bit. I sort of enjoyed the chewiness of the underdone hominy. Next time I would add the dry, soaked hominy at the beginning with the other ingredients rather than waiting a couple of hours as the recipe suggests.

Oh, and by the way, Shawn ate a healthy serving of posole. He said it was good and the hominy didn’t really bother him. Success!

Posted in budget recipes, main dishes, mexican, pork, soup | No Comments »

The Culinary Adventures of Kelly & Kristin: Part 1

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Posted by Kristin

If you have been reading for a while, you might remember this post about my friend Kelly. Recently, Kelly, Jeff and their dogs Cash and Bella moved back to Austin. When I heard the news I was so excited, imagining all of the things we could cook together.

After a fun day out at Bella Vista Ranch in Wimberley with Jeff and Kelly, sampling wine and olive oil, we started to think about recipes we wanted to try. Just a few days prior, I had a conversation with Shawn that went approximately like this:

Me: If I cooked a cow tongue would you eat it?

Shawn: No.

Me: Why not? It’s just like stewed meat. You wouldn’t even try it?

Shawn: I’m not eating tongue.

Me: Not even in a taco?

Shawn: I detest organ meat.

Me: *sulking silently*

So you can only imagine my excitement when Kelly and Jeff mentioned that they had seen the recipe for Beef Tacos de Lengua on Simply Recipes and wanted to try it.

* Fast forward to Super Bowl weekend. *

Never did I imagine that I would be standing face to … uh … face with an actual cow tongue, about to plunge it into boiling water, so that I could cut it up and serve it to my guests at a Super Bowl party.

Cow tongue

Granted, when you serve tongue at your Super Bowl party, the only people who will actually show up are blood relatives, people who live at your house anyway, and the friends who helped you plan the party (Just kidding y’all. If you’re reading this and you didn’t come, I know your reasons were all valid and I completely understand).

But really, you should have seen the look on this woman’s face when I put this baby in my cart at our friendly neighborhood HEB. When you tell people you are cooking a cow tongue—and they go “eeewwww” and you laugh hysterically at their squeamishness and your ability to gross them out (or maybe that’s just me)—you don’t think about what it will actually be like to cook a cow tongue.

So Kelly and I pressure cooked the tongue following Elise’s instructions, cooking it for 1 hour in the pressure cooker instead of cooking it normally for 3 hours. About 20 minutes into cooking it started to smell pretty amazing.

Cooked tongue

An hour later, Kelly removed the tongue from the pot and I peeled it. Yes, I just said I peeled the tongue. Sounds gross, I know, but trust me, you have to get the little taste bud looking thingies off it. The skin was Buster’s favorite part. As I was dangling a piece in the air he snapped onto one end and we played tug of war for a minute until I realized the ridiculousness of fighting with the dog over tongue skin. Needless to say I let him have it.

After peeling the tongue, I sliced it. And at that point we put everything away until the next day. The final step was to brown the meat in oil, and that needed to be done at the last minute. When we went to clean the pots and pans and dispose of the, uh, tongue juice, the broth from cooking the tongue smelled so rich and delicious, we couldn’t bring ourselves to throw it away. Jeff suggested we make it into pho (Vietnamese noodle soup). So, into the pot went some star anise, cloves, a little cinnamon, a handful of coriander seeds and some charred ginger which simmered away while we had a cocktail … or two …

The next morning I warmed up the broth and added some fish sauce. Then I ladled it over bowls of cooked rice noodles, sliced sirloin, sliced onion, green onion and cilantro. YUM! I never would have guessed that a boneless piece of meat would make such a delicious broth.

Later that evening we got out the lengua and Kelly browned it in some oil so it looked like this:

Finished Lengua

Then, we waited anxiously for the guests to arrive. Bella could hardly contain her excitement.

Bella

Neither could Cash. Because he knows a thing or two about tongues.

Cash tongue

Unfortunately we didn’t get a good shot of the final tacos. We cubed the meat and cooked it with a few cans of Herdez salsa verde. You could use whatever salsa verde you like, or even make your own out of charred onions, garlic, jalapenos and tomatillos. The finished product was served inside of warm corn tortillas with a little chopped onion, cilantro, avocado and sliced radishes.

My mother even ate one, despite my dad trying to gross her out by describing the texture as “boingy.” But she was a really good sport. My mother won’t eat a hot dog, but she ate a tongue taco. And she only did it because her baby made it. Of course, Shawn stuck to his word and didn’t eat any. He smoked a pork shoulder roast instead. It was also delicious.

I don’t know that I would want to make beef tongue very often, but it’s really a very flavorful cut of meat and it’s one that is often overlooked. If you’ve never cooked lengua and you’re not squeamish about the idea of it, I encourage you to try it.

Posted in beef dishes, budget recipes, main dishes, mexican | 6 Comments »

A Long-Overdue Visit

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

When one of my best friends from high school said she would be in town a few weeks ago, I was psyched. I hadn’t seen Kelly in five years. After high school our lives took different directions, which often happens when kids go off to college. And I guess I took for granted that she would always be nearby and maybe one day we would see each other. But then, about a year ago, much to my horror surprise, she got married and ran away to live in the Northwestern part of the country. When we recently re-connected, I wasn’t all that surprised to learn that in the time we had spent growing apart, we had actually been growing more alike. Kelly had become a fellow “foodie.”

So, we planned to do what “foodies” do best—cook and eat. But there was one complication: a few years ago, Kelly discovered she has a dairy allergy. Coming up with a dairy free meal was pretty simple, but dessert would be a little more challenging.

After stewing over the options for a few days, I became obsessed with the idea of taking a typically dairy dessert and making it diary free. And since we were having a Mexican-inspired meal, Tres Leches cake was an obvious choice. Tres Leches means “three milks.” It is essentially a sponge cake soaked in a blend of sweetened condensed milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream; it is often topped with fruit and whipped cream.

I wasn’t sure how to pull it off, so I consulted the Internet. A thorough search yielded few suggestions. I was going to have to wing it. The recipe for Pastel de Tres Leches from Fonda San Miguel: Thirty Years of Food and Art was a perfect starting point since the sponge cake doesn’t call for any dairy. For the milks I would use cream of coconut (a very sweet coconut product, often used for making piña coladas), coconut milk and almond milk. Then I got to thinking—since I had never tried this before, I was worried that the saturated fat in the coconut milk and cream of coconut would solidify in the refrigerator and my cake would have the texture of a sponge soaked in butter. (This is exactly why one should not try out new recipes one’s dinner guests, but I’ve always ignored that advice.) The solution was two parts almond milk to one part cream of coconut, which technically makes this a “Dos Leches” cake, but it tastes flipping outstanding so who really cares?

In case anyone is wondering, I also made a carrot and pineapple scallop ceviche and I tried to make tacos al pastor in the oven. I didn’t think either recipe came out that great, which is why we’re skipping dinner and going straight to dessert.

Dairy-Free Pastel de “Tres Leches” for Kelly
(with coconut and mango) 

I apologize to everyone who can’t eat dairy for including the whipped cream in the photo. I did not try to substitute with a non-dairy whipped topping (although you could if you want to) because I wanted to keep this as natural as possible. And since most of the people I was serving don’t have a problem with dairy, I made up a batch of whipped cream for those who wanted it. So if you don’t have a diary allergy, feel free to top this with a little sweetened whipped cream along with the mango puree. I have tried the cake with and without—it is delicious both ways.

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

3 teaspoons mexican vanilla extract

1 15-oz can cream of coconut (goes under the name Coco Lopez and may be found with the mixers in the beverage isle)

3 cups plain, unsweetened almond milk

2 ripe mangoes, diced (optional)

1. Oil a 9 x 3 springform pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Put the sugar and eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high speed with the whisk attachment until the mixture doubles in volume. Add the vanilla and the water and mix on medium speed to combine well.

4. Gently, so as not to deflate the eggs, fold in the flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake 35 minutes or until firm. Remove from pan and cool completely.

5. In the meantime mix together the cream of coconut, almond milk and the remaining two teaspoons of vanilla.

6. When the cake is cool, cut off the top crust with a serrated knife. Place it in a deep dish and poke holes in the top of the cake with a toothpick. Using a ladle pour the “milk” mixture over the top of the cake a little at a time, allowing the liquid to soak in before adding more. Continue until all of the liquid is soaked in. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

7. Puree the ripe mangoes and taste. Add sugar if needed.

8. Serve each slice of cake topped with a spoonful of mango puree.

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Posted in baking, desserts, fruit, mexican | 1 Comment »

A Lucky Accident

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

A few years ago I signed up for The Good Cook Book Club. I had received an advertisement in the mail that said if I signed up I could have 4 books for $1. Chump change! As a self-proclaimed cookbook addict, how could I resist? So I happily picked out my four books and placed my order. And when they finally arrived in the mail I was pretty psyched … that is until I picked up one of the books. It was ‘Mexican Everyday’ by Rick Bayless. No, no! This was all wrong. This is about healthy Mexican food. Ugh! You see in my haste to order, I chose this book thinking it was one of Rick’s other books, ‘Mexico: One Plate at a Time.’ I had borrowed it once from the library and loved it. It never crossed my mind that Rick Bayless had written another book (do you see how young and naive I was?) So I flipped through it, decided it was way too much hassle to send the stupid thing back and I put it on the shelf. Lo and behold, it began to make its way off the shelf and into my kitchen … often. The recipes are not entirely authentic. You will not find any recipe in ‘Mexican Everyday’ that calls for “1 small udder.” And no, I’m not going to tell you where you can find a recipe that calls for “1 small udder” (you sicko). But the recipes are delicious, healthy and simple enough to cook every night of the week.

And so, over time, quite a few of the recipes from Mexican Everyday have made it into my repertoire. The chipotle chicken salad tacos have become a favorite way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken at our house. All of the main course salads are delicious and make really satisfying light dinners. Every mexican cookbook has a recipe for tortilla soup, but the one in this book is different and it’s perfect. I was surprised to see a recipe for a crusty bean, avocado and fresh cheese sandwich (tortas) and for the meatballs flavored with chipotle. They were a refreshing change from the typical mexican entree, and they were both very good.                          

Each time I cook a new recipe from this book I’m in awe of how Rick Bayless is able to combine a few simple ingredients to create something that always seems to be just the thing I am hungry for. The salmon with spinach and creamy roasted peppers was no exception.

     

This dish is basically a piece of grilled salmon sauced with some wilted spinach in a creamy pepper sauce. In keeping with the healthy theme of the book, the sauce has no cream. It’s made with milk and thickened with a little masa harina (a corn flour that is the base for corn tortillas and tamales). Basically what you do is this:      

Roast two poblano peppers. Peel and discard the skins, seed pods and stems and toss the peppers into your food processor. Then slice a few cloves of garlic in half lengthwise and cook them in a few tablespoons of oil until they are browned all over. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and add them to the food processor also. Add a tablespoon or two of masa harina and a cup and a half of milk (I used 1%, but whatever you have will work) and blend the whole thing up until the sauce is smooth.                 

Season four salmon fillets with salt and pepper and sear them in the pan with the leftover oil from cooking the garlic (I like to undercook my salmon just a little). Remove the fillets and keep them warm in the oven. Add 10 ounces of cleaned spinach to the hot skillet and cook until wilted. Set it aside and add the sauce to the pan. Bring it to a simmer so it thickens. If it’s too thick, add more milk. Stir the spinach into the sauce and remove it from the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
 
Plate the salmon and ladle the sauce over the top. This was great served along side the Pioneer Woman’s crash hot potatoes, but it would be just as good with a salad.

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Posted in main dishes, mexican, seafood, vegetables | 3 Comments »

Carne Guisada—Homesick Texan Style

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

I love carne guisada, but I almost never order it in a restaurant. Why? Well, for the same reason I don’t go to a restaurant and order beef stew—because it’s simple comfort food and it’s just something people cook at home. Besides that, I have rarely had good carne guisada in a restaurant. It’s often dry or bland or tough. Sometimes it has a thick gravy that you can see through, which is no bueno in my book.

I was super excited when Lisa of Homesick Texan decided to put up her recipe for carne guisada. Even when I think I have a great recipe for something Tex-Mex, it seems as though the Homesick Texan can always inspire me to take it a step further.

Lisa has a couple of rules when it comes to her carne guisada. The first rule is that no potatoes go into the pot. It is my opinion that potatoes ruin carne guisada. This is very serious and if you choose to ignore this rule, well, there is probably no hope for you or your carne guisada so you should just give up right now. The second rule is that sweet bell peppers are for wussies and old ladies (my words, not Lisa’s). I know, I know, I love them too, but no matter how much you may love delicious sweet bell peppers roasted on a sandwich or in your hummus, please keep them far away from your carne guisada pot. Instead choose spicy green chilies like serranos and jalapeños. I took this a step further and added some roasted poblano peppers because, well, I like poblano peppers in my carne guisada and I think they give it extra depth of flavor. The last rule is that the meat should not look like the contents of a can of Prime Cuts in Gravy—it should be cooked until it’s tender enough to string and fall apart. Enough said. I was able to make this happen very quickly on a Friday evening in my pressure cooker. If you have one I recommend using it.

So I followed Lisa’s rules and when I took that first bite of rich, spicy goodness nestled inside of a warm corn tortilla, my eyes got wide. I had found carne guisada perfection and I knew I would never go back to my old ways. I also knew I had to share this with everyone I know. So here it is: my version of the Homesick Texan’s carne guisada.

Carne Guisada

Inspired by this recipe by the Homesick Texan.

Serve with fresh flour or corn tortillas, salsa, pico de gallo and cilantro. Great with mexican rice (check out this stellar recipe) and charro beans on the side. This makes a big old pot of meat so invite your friends. It also makes great leftovers. Scramble some up with an egg the next morning—it makes an awesome breakfast taco.

6 pounds of beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes (you will end up with about 5 lbs)

2 tablespoons neutral oil 

1 medium onion, diced 

2 jalapeño peppers, minced 

2 serrano peppers, minced 

2 poblano peppers, roasted and cleaned of stems, skins and seeds, diced or cut into strips 

6 large cloves of garlic, minced 

1 tablespoon cumin 

1 tablespoon dark chili powder 

1 teaspoon mexican oregano 

2 bay leaves 

2 1/2 cups of water 

1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes with juice 

1 12-oz bottle of beer (Lisa recommends dark mexican beer, but even a nasty Bud Light will impart more flavor than water alone)

1 tablespoon of flour mixed with 1/4 cup of water to make a slurry

1. In a large heavy pot, pressure cooker or dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of neutral oil on medium high until it shimmers. Brown the meat in small batches and set aside. NOTE: This is the most important step of the whole recipe. Make sure the pieces are well caramelized. Areas of the pot and meat drippings will become a dark brown color as the meat cooks. Don’t be scared. This will give the gravy its flavor. 

2. Add the onion, jalapenos and serranos to the meat drippings and cook until soft, scraping the browned bits from the pot. Add the garlic and seasonings and cook until fragrant. 

3. Add the meat, poblano peppers, water, tomatoes, beer and slurry. Bring to a simmer. If you are using a pot or dutch oven, simmer covered for about 3 hours or until the meat becomes tender and begins to fall apart. If you are using a pressure cooker, cover and bring to pressure and cook for 45 minutes on high.

Budget Recipe Info

Carne guisada is normally made with beef chuck roast which is a very inexpensive cut of meat. I bought mine at Costco for $3.99/lb, but it sometimes goes on sale for $1.99/lb in our regular grocery store. Served with rice and beans (also inexpensive), carne guisada is a very economical meal.

We fed six guests the night we made this and we still had enough for lunches and breakfasts all week long. I normally tire of leftovers after eating them once or twice, but for some reason I never get tired of tacos. So carne guisada was a great choice for our second week of eating on a budget, and nothing went to waste.

Budget Tip

Buy spices in bulk if possible. Bulk spices are much cheaper than those pre-packaged in little jars (because you’re not paying for the packaging) and grocery stores usually go through them faster so they will be fresher. You can also use them to make your own inexpensive seasoning blends instead of buying the pre-made ones. Often pre-made seasoning blends are mostly salt anyway.

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Posted in beef dishes, budget recipes, main dishes, mexican | 2 Comments »

Beans and greens tacos, with salsa verde and queso fresco

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

I love beans. I love all kinds of beans. And the great thing is, beans are pretty economical food. They’re cheap and filling with all their fiber and protein. Unfortunately I have developed a taste for more than your average 99 cent bag of supermarket pintos (although there will always be a special place in my heart for you little pintos). Once you’ve had heirloom beans, you will never be the same. And I’m actually not even that fond of beans out of a can anymore. Have you tasted the difference between canned garbanzo beans and the ones made from dry beans at home? It’s shocking. That’s why I bought a pressure cooker. I can have beans in like 30 minutes flat, which opens a whole new world of bean possibilities. Like cooking beans for dinner on weeknights!

This week I needed to use up a head of curly kale and I had a recipe on file from Amy Scattergood of the L.A. Times for Christmas lima beans tacos with wilted dandelion greens. Well, I had kale. And frankly, I had a rather traumatic experience with the only bunch of dandelion greens I have ever attempted to cook which I really don’t want to get into right now. So Christmas lima beans and kale tacos it would be. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? I know, it doesn’t, but trust me. These were really good. Shawn ate seven of them.

Now, about the beans: I don’t know exactly why they are called Christmas limas. Maybe it’s their speckled red and white coloring. Or maybe it has something to do with their meaty chestnut flavor. Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo says that if you think you don’t like lima beans, you owe it to yourself to give these a try. Needless to say, you can’t buy these beans just anywhere. You can order them from Rancho Gordo (if you do, be prepared to place an order to try out several varieties of their beans to justify the hefty shipping charge). You may also be able to find them at a well stocked grocery store like Whole Foods or at Central Market if you live here in Texas. I got mine at Central Market for $4.99 for a 12-oz bag. You could also try this application on a different variety of bean. Black beans, pinto beans, or borlotti/cranberry beans would also be good.

To get started, cook your beans. If you are using the Christmas limas, follow along with me. If you are using a different kind of bean and you have a favorite way of cooking them, that’s fine. If you are cooking the Christmas limas, all they really need for flavor is a generous cup of diced onion and a few cloves of garlic. Sweat the aromatics, add the beans and about three cups of water (or enough to cover) and cook 45 minutes or 15 minutes or so in the pressure cooker on the highest setting.

At this point add about a tablespoon and a half of kosher salt to the pot, add more water if needed to keep the beans covered and put the lid back on. There are all sorts of arguments about when to salt the beans. I don’t really think it matters. If you think that is blasphemy, do it your way. Bring the beans back to a simmer (or back up to pressure if you’re using the pressure cooker), put the lid on and cook for 45 minutes to an hour more or another 15 minutes on high in the pressure cooker.

In the meantime, wash your kale really well and wilt it in a pan with some garlic and olive oil. Add a small amount of water and a lid and cook just until the greens are tender. Add salt to taste.

To assemble each taco:
1. Place 2 corn tortillas per taco on a plate (or 1 flour tortilla per taco if you prefer) 
2. Fill each taco with about 1/3 cup of beans and some of the kale
3. Top each one with a little prepared salsa verde (I used Herdez in a small can)
4. Crumble some queso fresco on the top or another cheese of your choice. Goat cheese or feta maybe?
5. Squeeze some lime juice over the whole thing

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Posted in budget recipes, main dishes, mexican, vegetables, vegetarian | 1 Comment »

Venison Hot Tamales for Martyrs

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

So, here it is, as promised, the recipe for my venison tamales. I would recommend that you make the filling the day before, not because it needs to sit overnight or anything, but because making the tamales themselves is more than enough work for one person to do in one day. Another good strategy would be to do this when you have out of town house guests that have nothing better to do than help you. Or even better still, use child labor. This recipe makes quite a few tamales—unless I have a lot of people available to eat them right away, mine go straight into the freezer in a gallon ziplock freezer bag once they’re made.

Venison Hot Tamales          

This recipe has bacon drippings to add moisture to the venison, which is very lean. If you don’t have venison or you can’t find it, beef would work just as well. But, since most ground beef has a higher fat content than venison you may want to reduce the amount of bacon drippings when substituting beef, depending on how lean your beef is.

Makes about 30 tamales. 

For the Filling

2 lbs ground venison 

6 ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed 

3 tbsp pureed chipotle peppers in adobo  (use less for a milder tamale)

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 teaspoon cumin seeds 

1 teaspoon coriander seeds 

2 tablespoon tomato paste 

1 teaspoon sugar 

3 tablespoons bacon drippings 

salt to taste

For the Tamales

6 cups masa harina

1 pound lard 

1 1/2 teaspoons fine grained salt 

3 teaspoons baking powder 

6 cups chicken broth (warmed slightly)

1 package corn husks, soaked

1. Soak the ancho chiles in boiling water until soft and puree in a food processor with some of the soaking water. 

2. Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a small skillet and grind in a spice mill or with a mortar and pestle. 

3. In a large dutch oven, brown the venison in bacon drippings. Add both pureed chiles, garlic, sugar, spices and tomato paste. Add 6 cups of water and cook until reduced by half. 

4. Using an immersion blender puree the mixture to make a smoother mixture. Cook until the water is completely evaporated and the meat looks like a paste. Cool. 

5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the lard until light and fluffy. 

6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the masa, salt, and baking powder. Add the warm chicken broth and stir to combine the wet ingredients with the dry. 

7. Add the masa to the stand mixer in batches and beat thoroughly on high speed in between additions. Beat the masa until a spoonful dropped into a glass of water floats. 

8. Spread about ⅓ cup of masa across each corn husk and fill with about a tablespoon of meat filling in a vertical line down the center of the masa. Roll the husk to enclose the filling inside the masa and fold and tie the ends with strips of leftover corn husk.

9. To cook the tamales right away, steam them for 30 minutes. To cook frozen tamales steam for 45 minutes.

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Posted in appetizers, budget recipes, game meat, mexican | No Comments »

(Almost) Painless Vegetarian Tamales

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I made vegetarian tamales. Now if we were talking about your traditional meat-filled tamales I would say, “if you’re ever feeling like you’ve just had it too easy lately and you really want to punish yourself, keep reading because I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it.” These tamales, however, are not “filled” in the way that typical meat tamales are. Instead, the vegetable filling is stirred into the masa. Thus, they are much faster and easier to put together and you could probably knock out a few dozen of them in a couple of hours.

And I know what you’re probably thinking, who cares if they’re easy. Vegetarian tamales? That’s an oxymoron. Tamales are supposed to be soft, greasy, lard-laden little bundles of joy with a meaty surprise inside. This is true. However, I’ve done some research and it appears that the more heart-healthy variety has quite the following. If you don’t believe me, hang in there. The recipe for the venison tamales that I also made over the Thanksgiving holiday—the ones that took all day long and left me twitching in a useless heap on the couch for the remainder of the evening—is coming.

Vegetarian Tamales with Sweet Corn, Carrots, Hatch Green Chiles and Cheese

These tamales are made with a combination of olive oil and butter instead of the more traditional lard. You could use vegetable shortening and they would still be vegetarian, but vegetable shortening is bad for you and it tastes like nothing, so where’s the fun in that? Make sure to season the veggies well and use a flavorful vegetable stock. Offer these with all the fixin’s: salsa, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce, chopped onions, jalapenos and cheese.

Makes about 30 tamales.

6 cups masa harina

2 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon cayenne

4 cups flavorful, room temperature vegetable stock

3 tablespoons pureed chipotle peppers in adobo

1 cup olive oil

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 onion, 1/4 inch dice

2 carrots, 1/4 inch dice

1½ cups corn (fresh off the cob is best, but frozen is fine)

6 hatch green chilies, roasted, peeled and diced

8 oz grated cheese (cheddar, monterrey jack, queso quesadilla or a blend of the three)

1 package corn husks, soaked and rinsed

1. Caramelize the onion in a little oil or butter. Add the carrots and cook for several minutes. Add the chilies and the corn and cook until the mixture is fairly dry with no visible moisture. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the masa harina, seasonings, salt and baking powder. Stir in the stock, chipotle puree and two cups of water.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter on high speed until fluffy. Add the olive oil and continue to beat until combined. With the mixer on medium speed, slowly add large spoonfuls of the masa mixture. Then increase the speed and beat for several minutes until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. To test the readiness of the dough, drop a small spoonful into a glass of water. If it floats, it’s ready. If it doesn’t, keep beating.

4. With the mixer on low speed stir in the vegetables and the cheese.

5. Fill each husk with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the masa. Roll the husk to enclose the filling and secure the ends with strips of corn husk if you like.

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Posted in appetizers, budget recipes, mexican, vegetarian | No Comments »