My husband's aunt, Megan Montiel, makes a big batch of tamales every Christmas to send home to family members. It's a tradition she learned from the Mexican-American family she married into when she met her husband Michael over 40 years ago and still maintains today.

Here is the basic recipe Montiel uses, though the measurements are never exact:

Tamales
4 1/2 cups corn flour
4 to 5 cups warm broth mixture, plus more as needed (see recipe below)
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 tablespoons salt
shredded beef or other meat
olives, drained
tortilla husks

Making Dough
Place corn flour in a large bowl and add 4 cups of warm broth. Beat with a wooden spoon or with your hands until the dough is smooth. Use a little more broth if necessary, but the mixture should not be loose. Add vegetable oil.

Begin adding corn flour mixture a handful at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Alternatively, beat in tamale mixture using your bare hand as a whipping and folding tool. If the mixture becomes too stiff to beat, add up to 1 cup broth a little at a time. When done, the mixture should be light and delicate, the texture of butter cream frosting. Beat in salt.

Making Filling
Shredded beef is typically used, though any kind of meat, seasoned, works. We even made some tamales with leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

Stew cooked meat in beef broth or water, chile powder, garlic and salt. This liquid will also be used to make the dough.

Assembling the Tamales
On an open corn husk, spread the dough at the top of the husk. Place a spoonful of meat in the middle of the dough. Place two olives and the base of the dough and wrap the husk around the filling, folding the bottom up. Place tamales in a steamer and let them steam for 60-90 minutes.

Flavors Without Borders

Over November 20-21 was the first public event introducing the new Sabores Sin Fronteras/ Flavors Without Borders alliance, which hopes to document, celebrate and revitalize the farming, ranching, foraging and food folkways of the southwest region.

On Thursday and Friday there were symposiums in Amado, Ariz., and on Saturday was a food festival in Tubac, Ariz., which I attended. Vendors and booths set up by local food producers served up Mexican fruit drinks and horchata, Sonoran hot dogs, Native beans and seeds, a new Community Supported Agriculture group, and other groups promoting sustainable agriculture and food practices.

We bought a corn bread mix from the Native Seeds/SEARCH booth and plan on making it for Thanksgiving. Here is the recipe from Native Seeds:

Blue Corn Amaranth Cornbread

10 oz. (2 1/2 cups blue corn baking mix
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil

Stir milk, egg and oil together in mixing bowl. Add baking mix, stirring only until moistened. Pour into lightly greased 8 x 8 baking dish. Bake 25-30 minutes at 425 degrees.

Chile Cheese Cornbread Pudding

14 oz. can creamed corn
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup milk
1 small onion, chopped
2 large eggs
8 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
two 4-oz cans chopped green chiles
Blue Corn Amaranth Baking Mix

Combine all but baking mix in large bowl. Add baking mix and stir until just moistened. Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake 45 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until deep golden brown. Best served warm. Recipe may be cut in half and baked in an 8x8 baking dish. This is a very rich, very moist cornbread.

The Santa Cruz Chili Co., which has been in business in Tumacacori, Arizona since 1943, is a small gift shop and museum devoted to all types of local chilis and chili products, herbs and hot sauces.

The chilis are grown in the fields of Pierce, Arizona and packaged in Tumacacori for store purchase or shipping and distribution to individuals and larger food procesors.

The company has been working in plant genetics, for instance, taming the heat of the famously potent habenero pepper while retaining its flavor. Chili farmer Ed Curry and can even develop a requested flavor, or "profile" of chili for customers.

I was impressed by the shop's wide variety of spices and mixtures of spices, already packaged, which could be applied to meats for some easy, healthy and flavorful dishes. Here is one example of a recipe using their chipotle paste.

Tinga de Pollo
Chicken and Chipotle dish
6 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 lb of bacon strips
1/2 lb of chorizo*
1/2 cup Santa Cruz "Chipotle" Chili paste
1 cup of chicken broth

Cook bacon over medium heat and drain off excess fat. Add the chorizo and cook until done, about 10 minutes. Mix Chipotle Chili Paste in chicken broth. Mix together with bacon and chorizo and add shredded chicken. Bring to a simmer and cook until the flavors blend, about 10 minutes.

Serve with tortillas and fresh lettuce for a wonderful, spicy meal.

*Can substitute 1 tablespoon Santa Cruz Chorizo Spice

Sonoran Seafood at El Mezon del Cobre

Tucson's El Mezon del Cobre, a family owned restaurant on 2960 North First Avenue, serves up Sonoran-style shrimp and fish plus the typical Mexican fare of enchiladas, fajitas and tacos.

The dishes are a bit pricey, ranging from $7.50 to $20 or more for seafood, but it's tasty. I ordered the Camarón Fantasia, which is jumbo shrimp wrapped in bacon, served with rice and tortillas. My husband had Pargo Frito, a red snapper that's brought in from Guaymas, Sonora three times a week.

Calaveras y Día de los Muertos

During the Mexican festival known as Día de los Muertos on November 1st and 2nd, Mexicans celebrate the lives of deceased loved ones by having picnics at gravesites or erecting altars, known as ofrendas, in homes.

An ofrenda is a traditional altar created on Día de los Muertos and decorated with flowers, pictures, fruits, food, sweets, and drinks to welcome back for a day the souls of departed family members and friends.

Sugar skulls or "calaveras," are also made before the holiday and placed on the ofrenda.



How to Make Sugar Skulls
Ingredients:
1 lb. powdered sugar
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
pinch of salt
cornstarch to dust rolled balls with

Makes approximately four small skulls.

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, beat four egg whites, slowly adding cream of tarter and a pinch of salt until peaks form.
2. Add powdered sugar and work with hands to make a semi-firm paste. If mixture is too dry, add a small amount of water. If too moist, add more powdered sugar.
3. Roll into balls and dust with cornstarch.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool.
5. Form skulls and facial features either by hand or with sugar skull molds.
6. Allow to air dry overnight before applying icing or decorations.
7. For colored skulls, add food coloring to the water before adding to dry mixture.

Making Icing for Decoration
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

Directions:
1. Using electric mixer, add cream of tarter to egg whites and mix until icing peaks.
2. Fold in powdered sugar.
3. Keep in a tightly covered container until used.
4. Add food color if desired.

To decorate the skulls:
Handle skull carefully while decorating. For piped icing, snip corner of quart-sized food storage bag and fill bag half-full of icing and softly squeeze to make designs.

Pan de Muerto

"Bread of the Dead"

This sweet bread, according to Alejandro's Tortilla Factory in Tucson, is made fresh by bakeries on or before the Day of the Dead on November 1. It is placed on altars for departed loved ones during the celebration. The bread is often shaped to resemble bones and sprinkled with colored sugar.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
5 to 5-1/2 cups flour
2 packages dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon whole anise seed
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs

In a saucepan over medium flame, heat the butter, milk and water until very warm but not boiling.
Meanwhile, measure out 1-1/2 cups flour and set the rest aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the 1-1/2 cups flour, yeast, salt, anise seed and sugar. Beat in the warm liquid until well combined. Add the eggs and beat in another 1 cup of flour. Continue adding more flour until dough is soft but not sticky. Knead on lightly floured board for ten minutes until smooth and elastic.
Lightly grease a bowl and place dough in it, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours. Punch the dough down and shape into loaves resembling skulls, skeletons or round loaves with "bones" placed ornamentally around the top. Let these loaves rise for 1 hour.
Bake in a preheated 350 F degree oven for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and paint on glaze.

Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons grated orange zest

Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, then apply to bread with a pastry brush.
If desired, sprinkle on colored sugar while glaze is still damp.

This past Saturday morning I set out with my family to Patagonia, Arizona, about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, to visit the Native Seeds/SEARCH conservation farm. The drive is beautiful and the landscape of the Sonoita-Elgin-Patagonia area is very different from Tucson's desert, with rolling grassy hills and cooler temperatures.

The conservation farm is a 60-acre piece of land sown with native crops such as tepary beans, chili peppers, native varieties of corn and tomatoes, all grown organically.

The organization was having a Fall Harvest Celebration, with live bluegrass music, farm tours and a potluck lunch of foods made with native ingredients. I tried some squash cake, blue cornbread with cheese and chiles, and quinoa pasta.

I also spent some time talking with Benito Gutierrez, who works on the farm full-time. He can be seen in the slideshow roasting chiles. He lives in a travel trailer behind the farm's massive green barn. Gutierrez enjoys the peaceful surroundings.

"All I can hear at night is the coyotes," he says.

Here's a recipe using tepary beans, the variety grown by the Tohono O'odham Indians here in Southern Arizona. The beans can be found at the Native Seeds/SEARCH store on 4th Avenue.

Papago Tepary Soup

2 cups tepary beans, soaked overnight
6 cups water
4 slices bacon, diced or 1-2 tblsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup diced celery
1 clove garlic, diced
3 cups tomatoes w/juice
1 tsp mixed oregano and cumin
Dry red chile pepper (optional)

Drain soaked beans and bring to boil in big pot with the six cups of water. When the beans are tender, fry bacon until limp then remove it from pan. If not using bacon, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat; add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add bacon, tomatoes with their juice, and the oregano/cumin mix. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add vegetable mix to the beans. Cook another hour until beans are mealy-tender. Dried red chile pepper may be stirred into pot during the last 10 minutes. Serves 6. Serve with flour tortillas.