2011-2012 My Favorite Holiday Food Essay Contest

Tsssss! I can hear the screaming of the crisp steam, as my mother lifts the top off a gargantuan pot full of one of my favorite foods. My favorite holiday food tradition is when my family prepares Turkey Tamales for Thanksgiving. My grandfather Arturo created the recipe because he wanted to combine the Mexican tradition of preparing tamales for special occasions and the American tradition of eating turkey at Thanksgiving. First my family and I visit our local Farmers' Market where we buy all of the fresh ingredients we need. Next, we prepare our multi-step recipe using a cornucopia of different ingredients. Lastly, we celebrate Thanksgiving by eating over delicious creations that everyone will enjoy!

        When we visit the Farmers' Market that my mother has shopped at for over forty years. My mother and grandmother share stores about the hilarious things my grandfather would do on visits there. We buy all of the freshest, greatest, vegetables straight from the farm like spinach, kale, chayote, bell peppers, garlic, tomatillos, green onion, celery and cilantro. Since we make our tamales in such large quantities to share with the rest of the family, we try to find the fattest turkey available! This will turn out great! Our new tradition is to make a non-meat, vegetables version using wild rice, garbanzo beans, lentils, and carrots in addition to making the turkey tamales. The traditions continue to grow.

        The success of the tamales rests with the quality of the vegetable base sauce. The sauce is used for making the masa, preparing the meat/or vegetable filling and the cream sauce on top. The sauce ingredients are: 2 heads of garlic, 1 bunch of kale, 4 chayote, 1 bunch cilantro, 4 bell peppers, 3 lbs tomatillos, 2 bunches green onion, 1 whole celery, 2 bags spinach. Wash and clean all the vegetables and place them except the spinach in a pot with water. Cook until tender. Place cooked vegetables in blender with the uncooked spinach and thin with the hot liquid. Return to pot and cook about 1 hour, season with salt to taste. Boil the turkey then shred. Use prepared vegetable sauce to simmer the meat for 30 mins. To prepare the masa, combine five, 5 lb bags of dry masa with 3 large tubs of Smart Balance Sprea. NOT LARD! Add the vegetable sauce until moist about 4-6 cups. Now spread about 3 tablespoon of masa evenly on moistened cornhusks. Place filling  (meat or vegetable) in center, then wrap both sides over each other and fold the bottom up to seal. Stock in pot and stem 1-1/2 hr.

        It's Thanksgiving day! By the time I am awake and out of my bed, the meat-filled bundles are steaming in the pot. Tssss! I help my mother lift the top off the enormous pot, and the steam and delicious aroma fill the air. The unique smell quickly reminds me of past family gatherings and of the one we will go to today.

        Finally! The moment I have been waiting for! As I unwrap the corn husk, the warm, green masa topped with a viscous vegetable cream sauce, which my mother just finished by adding sour cream to the vegetable base sauce, tastes like nothing I have tasted any where else but home. I Buen provecho!

Congratulations to our school finalists:
Bria Booker, MacGregor Elementary
Victoria Lopez, Rodriguez Elementary
Juliette Cedillo, Briscoe Elementary
Avery Robinson, Whittier Elementary
AJ Guerrero, DeZavala Elementary
Taylor East, Harbach-Ripley Elementary