My kitchen burned down…aliens invaded the grocery stores…the dog ate all my pans???
While all of those would be great excuses for the long break in blogging, the truth is little Israel Louis made a rather dramatic entry into the world and threw my life into chaos. After almost 32 hours of labor, Isi was delivered by emergency C-Section-a very healthy 7lbs 3oz.
So…eight weeks, a gazillion stitches, and not quite enough pain killers later, I’m back. Now, I was going to wow you with some FABULOUS new “Becca creation”…but my brain had been sucked dry. Instead, I’m going to wow you with one of my very good friends super awesome homemade Tamale recipes.
Here it is folks-Tara Yeager’s Homemade Tamales! I’ve eaten them, I’ve help make them and let me just say they are incredible and worth every second in the kitchen. So grab a glass of your favorite wine and a good friend (many hands make light work) and let’s get cooking!

~Serves A Ton Of People!~

Food Stuffs:
4 large dried ancho chilies

1 (7oz) can chipotles in adobo sauce

2 jalapenos

2 habanero peppers

24 oz low-salt chicken broth

16 oz beef broth

14 oz vegetable broth

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, or 1-1/2 lb tomatoes

1 medium onion, chopped

8 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 1/3 tsp dried oregano

1-1/2 tsp dried ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cloves

______________________________

Meat: 5 to 8 lbs -traditionally pork, but good with chicken or turkey)

______________________________

Filling: Place dried ancho chilies in bowl. Add enough hot water to cover. Let stand until chilies soften, about 5 minutes. Drain. Stem and seed chilies. Transfer chilies to a large pot. (If you can’t find ancho, you can use any other mild to medium dried hot pepper)

Add chipotle chilies, all the broth, chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, and cloves. Cover and simmer until ancho chilies are very soft, about 40 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer mixture to blender and puree until smooth (Chili puree can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate)

__________________________________

Tamales Ingredients:

3 batches of Masa + about 8 dozen dried corn husks

broth mix (about 75oz chicken broth, 32oz beef broth, and 24 oz vegetable broth)

Masa:

1/2 cup Crisco

1 bag White Masa Harina (corn meal – 24 oz)

1-1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

3-1/2 cups broth mix, boiling

__________________________________

Using an electric mixer, add Crisco, Masa Harina, salt, and baking powder. Beat to blend. Heat broths in large pot to boiling. Gradually add hot broth to masa mixture, beating until thick.

Place steamer rack in large pot (Or rolled up aluminum over water) Add enough water to pot to fill to the base of the steamer rack. Arrange tamales vertically on the rack. Cover and bring water to boil. Steam until masa mixture is very tender, adding more water to bottom of steamer as needed, about 1-1/2 hours.

______________________________________________________________________

We (Tom and I) enjoyed ours with a nice Chianti. A little shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese, a dollop of sour cream and our mouths were in food-coma heaven.

Let me know how these turn out. My suggestion ( and we totally did this-it was a blast), gather a group of your best friends and make an afternoon or night of it. The extras will freeze well and you can pop a movie in or break out a game while they steam.

*A big thanks to Tara for being my first guest blogger of the month! If you have a recipe that you would like to share. Email me and let me know!*

Tara's Baby, Jimmy

My "big Kids" lunching in the fort