Holiday Tamales

So many tamales to make, so little time. On Saturday we hosted our annual Tamale Fiesta. Starting early in the week, we shopped for our ingredients, prepared many of the fillings and strategized how best to coordinate the production of so many deliciously wrapped packages. Setting aside the time to be together and work cooperatively towards a common goal is a rare occurrence for me these days. So when the work was over and we all sat around a table piled high with five different types of tamales, big heaping bowls of Arroz & black beans and home brewed beer, it all seemed such a blessing.

I won’t go into detail about recipes. I will say I’ve never attempted such a variety at one time. We made the usual pork with red chile-California, chuck roast with chile-ancho, duck with sour cherries, green chile and cheese and for dessert, chocolate ginger tamales.

Using two steamers and a pressure cooker helped a lot to get it all ready at the same time. Otherwise I’m pretty sure we’d have been eating at midnight.