Growing up and comfort Food...35º

What I think of now as comfort food was the food that Mom made from scratch, and served on a regular basis...A few of those were mac and cheese, ham and beans, meat and potatoes (my Dad's favorite)...Our meals were breakfast, dinner and supper, homemade bread in some form was served with every meal...Lots of carbs were included to tied us over from one meal to the next, no snacks, no junk food, no soda pop or cookies were consumed between meals...On rare occasions we had homemade cakes, cinnamon rolls, or pies, fudge and divinity was made at Christmas time.

Much of our food was canned during the summer; fruit, vegetables and meat, then stored in our underground cellar to supplement wintertime meals...I don't remember asking for certain foods or not liking a meal, Mom cooked it, put it on the table and we ate it!...Occasionally, my Dad would ask Mom to buy canned sardines, tamales or oysters...That is one time when we didn't all eat the same thing, we tasted, declined and ate leftovers or our usual supper dish of "bread and milk."...I didn't acquire a taste for these foods until much later in life, still not fond of sardines.

This brings me to what I intended to write about today and that is tamales, many people consider this a comfort food...I see them occasionally for sale about this time of year but after making them with Bobi and Cienna a few years ago, I found that I kind of like the process and love the final outcome.

Two weeks ago I had leftover pork and beef and time on my hands...The meat filling, needs to be simmered in spices of your choice, I used chili (of course) garlic, onions, cumin, oregano and add other stuff such as, green chilies, olives, cheese and saracha sauce...Mushrooms simmered in garlic and butter are also a favorite filling...A bag of Masa is a must and the recipe on the bag worked just fine...I made about 30 tamales, we ate some, shared some and froze the rest...It seems like a lot but it isn't and if you are going to make a mess, it may as well be a big one!

The Masa and fillings can be made the day before and refrigerated and then all assembled to put them together...I use parchment paper, instead of corn husks, for wrapping the tamales...I haven't included a lot of directions but if you get serious about making these I will be happy to assist...Hugs to all OWAV:)

I use a bench knife to spread the masa on

parchment, doing 4 at a time, then add meat and 

roll up, twist one end, fold the top.

Marked with a P for pork, ready to steam.

 Mushroom filling

Served with homemade salsa and cheese, lots of 

cilantro and a dash of saracha and a nice

glass of merlot.