Food: Mexican: Tamales: Butternut Squash

For purposes of indexing, I've described these tamalaes as Mexican. They are also thoroughly east bay - stuffed with a mixture of butternut squash, nopales, poblano chile, and jack cheese. We also used banana leaves as the wrapper - I'd seen them used first on Iron Chef America, and then eaten pork tamales prepared that way at Tamarindo Antojeria.

The recipe we used called for a couple of steps that I probably would have approached differently, if left to my own gringo devices. Rather than placing enough masa on the leaf or husk to completely surround the filling, the recipe recommended packing additional masa directly on top of the filling. Apaprently tamales should also be steamed in the full upright position, using balled-up tin foil if necessary to keep them that way.

We served these with an avocado based sauce of my own devising.



Editor's note (08 December 2005): It has been brought to my attention that I failed to attribute the vision for these tamales to my lovely and talented wife. I assert that this was an innocent oversight, rather than --say-- base blackguardism, an oversight which I am happy to correct.