I don't usually go to Super Target as I find it somewhat overwhelming, but last week I found myslelf there as a matter of convenience. Trolling the food aisles for a little this, a little that, I stumbled upon a new product: cheese and green chile tamales. Unless you have fantastic Mexican mama making them at home for you, vegetarian tamales are rare and difficult to find. I dream nightly about the ones you can get next to the Santurio de Chimayo at Leona's Restaurant in New Mexico. Sitting under the trees on a picnic table, it's pure heaven. (Apparently, they're now available through the mail, so I know what I'll be ordering next week. Who knew?) Of course, Anna's mother's tamales are fantastic, and at the Wild Oats market, they used to have tamales in the deli section. Used to. As in not any more.
Needless to say, I was extremely excited to find vegetarian tamales in the freezer at Target, the store brand even. So I rushed home, heated one up in the microwave and piled on the pineapple salsa. Pretty darn good, in my opinion. Tuesday night I decided to dress the tamales up a little bit and make a meal around them, something I decided to call Tamales Rancheros. I also have a recipe for tamale soup my grandmother used to make using canned tamales (ick) that I think I'll try with the frozen ones.
Recipe: Tamales Rancheros
(serves 2)
2 frozen tamales, prepared according to the directions on the box. If you have real, homemade tamales in your freezer, then lucky you.
2 eggs
1 16 oz. can black beans
1 avocado, sliced or diced (your preference)
2 small tomatoes, diced
Bottled salsa of your choice
cilantro
green onion
While the tamales cook, open and rinse the black beans, slice the avocado and cut up the tomtato, cilantro and green onion. Fry the egg over easy. Plate the tamales and open up the corn husk so it spreads over the plate. Top each with an egg, some of the beans, half the avocado, some tomato and a dollop of salsa. Sprinkle cilantro and green onion over the top.
Mangez!