Tamales

If I could, I would cook with Sheri everyday. I would happily be her kitchen slave. I wouldn't mind washing her dishes or doing her prep work. We've had so many happy cooking projects - Mole! Tapas Party! My First Bread! [and don't forget - we are the queens of fondue!]

But, seeing as how we live 1700 miles apart, it's not that practical. Sigh.

As substitutes go, Jess is a dear one. We've already had one project, which I'll blog about later. And yesterday was our second. It was her idea to learn to make tamales and she chose a recipe from Rick Bayless' Mexico One Plate at a Time for Green Chile Chicken Tamales.

We soaked corn husks in hot water for a couple of hours. We marinated and grilled some chicken thighs. We made a tomatillo sauce with serranos and jalapenos. We reconstituted masa harina and mixed it with shortening, salt and baking powder. We laid out the corn husks, spread them with masa, topped them with filling, and wrapped and tied them. Then they steamed for just over an hour. Food blogger Homesick Texan devotes two entries to the process: Part 1 and Part 2, which are informative and fun to read.

These Green Chile and Chicken Tamales are super yummy and an awful lot of fun with a friend. The recipe we used makes 24 tamales, which was do-able afternoon project for 2 people. I think it would be a blast to have a tamale party, with lots of people and dozens of tamales.