Three Southwestern Holiday Dishes

Try as I may, I cannot make it through the end of the year holidays without indulging in some special foods.  And living in the Desert Southwest, these foods usually have a special southwestern flair. Here are three dishes that my family enjoyed recently.

Tamales and winter holidays are made for each other. Tamale shops around El Paso, my home town, gear up in December for requests for large orders of tamales. Other more traditional families host tamaladas (tamale making parties) with family and friends forming a line to assembly the tamales before placing them in a large pot to steam.  (As an ex-Spanish teacher, I am a bit bothered by not using the more correct Spanish version, tamal in the singular form, tamales for plural, but I am guessing most readers will recognize "tamale" over tamal.)

This year my husband, Wayne, and I opted for the easier route and stopped by a nearby Pepe's Tamales shop to buy a few tamales for New Year's Eve.  Still, decisions had to be made.  A half-dozen or a dozen?  Red chile with pork, green chile with chicken, or green chile with cheese? We walked out of the shop with my favorite, six green chile with cheese tamales.  

We heated the tamales in a steamer on the stove and served them with pinto beans, Spanish rice, a dab of guacamole, and mango salsa.  The new plates that were a Christmas present were a perfect backdrop for a delicious meal.  

  

Another special dish we prepared this holiday season was Eggs Benedict.  Wayne is addicted to Eggs Benedict ever since he had a wonderful version of this dish in Dublin, Ireland.  I bought him an egg poacher for Christmas so that the eggs would be a snap to prepare, and we could concentrate on making a tasty sauce.  The egg poacher came with a sauce recipe. It was acceptable, but not as delicious as Wayne remembered. (Isn't that often the case with food memories?) Eggs Benedict can be transformed into a southwestern dish by putting any number of sauces made with chile on them. The eggs were served on our old Mexican dishes, which were soon to be put away to make room for the new ones.

 

Red enchiladas were also on the menu at our house this holiday season.  Of course, one can eat red enchiladas any time of the year, but somehow the rich red color of the sauce makes this dish especially appropriate around Christmas time.  The quality of the red sauce is key.  I sometimes spend an afternoon in the kitchen and make red sauce from scratch, that is, starting with the dried chile pods.  This time, however, Wayne whipped up a sauce using red chile powder.  He served the enchiladas with a side order of refried beans and a few leftover little sausages on some metal plates with wooden bases that we found at an antique shop many years ago.  

All this talk of food is making me crave something spicy, but unfortunately the holidays have just ended, and the pantry is bare except for a large jar of peanut butter.  I'll have to have a slathering of it on an apple slice and dream about a great dish to celebrate Valentine's Day, which seems very far away.