TAMALE NIGHT!

I spent almost all day working on these tamales and their sauces. The first was a roasted tomatillo and garlic salsa with onion and cilantro. The second was a roasted tomato and smoked chili salsa with both regular sun dried tomatoes and smoked ones. I'm not very familiar with tomatillos so the sourness was a little shocking at first, but the flavors of both sauces worked perfectly when eaten together (the richness of the tomato salsa helped balance the tang from the tomatillo salsa and the cilantro gave it a perfect coolness).
I used a Rick Bayless recipe from his website for the tamale batter and I was extremely happy with my results. I didn't use the lard, so instead used vegetable shortening and a little bit of butter. I stuffed the tamales with monterey jack cheese, roasted poblano and jalepeño chilis, and a little bit of raw corn. Super delicious.








me cooking: