Primavera Tamales: a Gluten Free Thanksgiving prep

Today, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, kitchens all over the US are bustling, roasting pumpkins for puree, readying the brine for the turkey, and pulling grandmothers' recipes for dressing or stuffing (depending on what part of the country you're in). But in our house, I'm thinking about tamales.

The Thanksgiving story that I learned in grade school was all about corn. The Native Americans brought corn to the Pilgrims and they feasted together, for the first time. There are plenty of Thanksgiving traditions that make their way to our table on Thanksgiving day (first and foremost, pretzel salad, which mysteriously contains zero vegetables, unless you count jello), but corn isn't one of them. It's out of season, for one thing. For another, vegetables aren't the all time favorites, when paired with sausage cornbread stuffing and a local, sustainably raised, smoked Willie Bird. Last year, I made a few butternut squashes, stuffed with kale and topped with a tahini, but I have to admit, though they were delicious, no one really went back for seconds, instead saving room for the mashed potatoes.

So, to celebrate the original food that brought two cultures together and continues to be one of the cornerstones of American agriculture (for better or worse), I'm eating tamales. Yesterday for lunch, from the Primavera tamale stand at the farmer's market, tomorrow for lunch, and maybe as a pre-Thanksgiving warm up. Got to get those vegetables in somehow and slipping some slow roasted pork in between delicate masa makes vegetables go down real easy.