Monday, September 21, 2009

Weekly Menu 9/21 - 9/25 and Tamales

Matt & I spent this Saturday morning filling our freezer with some homemade tamales. Matt thought the leftover smoked pork would make for the start of a great filling. We also had some sweet corn in the fridge to make the corn & cheese version.
Smoked Pork TamalesSweet Corn Tamales
We first made tamales last year when it was a Recipes to Rival challenge. We were really pleased with the results & how easy they actually were to make. The pork filling Matt made this time was so amazing I thought I'd share the recipe. It would also be good as a filling for tacos. Visit our original tamale post to get the recipe for the corn & cheese filling. The recipe for the masa dough & how to assemble & cook tamales is here. We freeze the tamales in freezer bags of two & them microwave them on high for 3 minutes when we want to eat them.
Smoked Pork Filling

Red Chile Pork Filling

2 dried ancho chiles, seeded & roughly chopped
2 dried guajillo chiles, seeded & roughly chopped
2 c boiling water
3 T vegetable oil
2 medium tomatoes, peeled
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t dried oregano
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 - 3 c pulled pork*
salt to taste

Put the chiles in a bowl & cover with the boiling water. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, straight sided skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, onion, cumin, pepper and oregano. Let cook for 10 minutes stirring from occasionally & crushing the tomatoes with your spoon.

Put the soaked chiles, the soaking water & garlic into a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Add to the onion & tomato mixture. Stir in the pork & salt to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer for about 30 minutes until reduced.

Makes enough filling for about 15 tamales.

(*If you don't have cooked pulled pork, sear a pork shoulder then braise until cooked about 1 1/2 hours. Shred & stir into the sauce.)

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Recipes to Rival Challenge (so I can't tell)

Dinner & a movie out

BLTs - Trying to enjoy the tomatoes while they last

Oven Fried Chicken & Hoecakes

Chicken Pot Pie

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© 2007-2009 Kathy Lewinski

8 comments:

  1. Your tamales look fabulous!!! I am going to get adventurous one day and try them myself, as they are one of our favorite mexican treats!!! Are they difficult?

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  2. Kristin - they are more time consuming then difficult. Matt says your mom has made them. Maybe we need to have a tamale making party over Christmas

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  3. I am really impressed by your making tamales! That filling sounds really great!

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  4. You are amazing, this looks great!

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  5. stellar stuff, folks! i'm impressed by the tamales, of course, and completely enamored of that filling in general!

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  6. This is a fabulous idea since I still have some corn husks to use up, some fresh corn from the amrket and some pulled pork ready to be used in the freezer. Not to mention some lard left over in my fridge. Goodness. I think we have the same refrigerator and pantry contents!

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  7. I was given a cookbook just on tamales, but I haven't had a chance to cook from it yet. This is motivating me!

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  8. Oh boy! Do I have a tamale story to share!! Come post your favorite crock pot recipe at Crock Pot Wednesday on diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com

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