cooked vera cruz sauce for tamales

i've tweaked zarela martinez' wonderful recipe for salsa a la veracruzana, from her book zarela's veracruz.  i had to make it last night after kat and i found wonderful tamales at a market in pontiac.

heat a few tablespoons olive oil until it shakes.  add a handful of whole garlic cloves and cook them for a few minutes, until golden but not brown.  remove them (when they're cool, they're awesome as munchfood while you sip some patron).

add a handful of minced garlic and a chopped white onion.  cook until the onion is translucent.  stir in 4 or 5 large ripe tomatoes.  if it's not summer, use a 28 ounce can san marzanos.  reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

then add:
3 pickled jalapenos
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
a dozen or so big green olives stuffed with chiles (not pimientos)
several sprigs each fresh thyme and oregano
1/4 teaspoons cinnamon or, if you have it, canela
1/2 cup dry white wine

stir well and cook, covered, for another 20 minutes.  taste for salt, but it should be fine.

this will be wildly spicy, so be sure your tamales are sweeeeet corn.

i served this sauce with sweet tamales, chorizo, queso fresca, and sliced avocados with a squeeze of lime. 

add jasmine rice, a light salad or pickled vegetables, and  uniced water alongside your tequila.

Comments

[gaytheologian]

my grandmother would be proud...

at some point, i may be able to send you the ultra-complicated method of making guatemalan "chuchitos" which are like 4 times the size of a regular tamale (they are still called tamales if you use plantain leaves, and chuchitos if you use corn leaves). they are AMAZING, but it takes literally an entire day to make them (provided you have some help for the assembly line at the end!)

each family in the mountains in guatemala has their own recipe. i have learned HOW to make it, but i am iffy on quantities. (for your own sanity, it is best to make a HUGE number of them, like 50-100, and freeze what you don't need after assembly...they keep incredibly well). we bust these out usually only for christmas eve, and then save enough to have one or two special dinners later in the spring.

before i get the recipe together, i must know it will remain forever guarded or my grandmother will lose a part of her soul...haha...

[trish]

oh thus sounds wonderful! the tamales we got were handmade in el salvador -- and the corn was just achingly sweet. oh. oh. oh.

please share what you can while still retaining your family honor. :)))

[Realestate]

Hi Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

[Rental]

Hi Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, a cool site I like

[Rental]

With the new 2011. Year! Congratulations.