Vegetarian Christmas Dishes

We drove to Las Cruces on Friday. Seven hours, four kids, one cooler full of frozen green chile and tamales, and a minivan that smelled like roasted Hatch by the time we hit Raton Pass. The twins slept from Denver to Trinidad, woke up screaming through Trinidad to Las Vegas — New Mexico Las Vegas, not the other one — and fell asleep again south of Santa Fe. Diego played his handheld game the entire way. Sofia read a book. Lisa navigated and did not once suggest I was driving too fast, which means I was driving too fast and she'd decided it wasn't worth the argument. Marriage is knowing when to fight and when to let the man go eighty-five on I-25 because he hasn't seen his mother in three months.

Gloria's house smelled like red chile and lard before we got through the door. She'd already started the tamale prep — the masa mixed, the pork simmered in red chile sauce until it shredded with a look, the corn husks soaking in the sink. This is the command center. Gloria at the table, apron on, directing traffic. Hector in his chair with coffee, offering commentary that nobody asked for. Miguel and Dolores were already there. Patricia drove up from El Paso with Gilbert and the kids. Gabby and Ray came from Albuquerque. The kitchen was full and loud and exactly right.

Saturday was the tamale production. Two days compressed into one because Gloria decided we were behind schedule, a judgment she makes every year regardless of actual timeline. Everyone has a job. Gloria runs the masa station. Patricia fills. Gabby wraps. Miguel steams. I spread — the same job I've had since I was Diego's age, standing on a step stool, smearing masa on corn husks while Gloria told me it was too thick. It was too thick then. It's too thick now. Diego stood beside me and spread his own, sloppy and generous, and Gloria watched him with an expression I've seen exactly once on her face — the look of a woman watching the tradition pass forward, alive and unbroken.

We made a hundred and forty tamales. Red chile pork, green chile and cheese, bean and cheese for the kids. We ate them straight from the steamer, standing in the kitchen, burning our fingers and not caring. Hector had three. He's not supposed to have three — the masa, the lard, the carbs — but Carlos Medina's father is seventy-five years old and it's Christmas and some fights you don't pick.

Ruben wasn't there. His absence was the shape of a man leaning against the counter, beer in hand, making everyone laugh. We didn't talk about it. We made tamales.

Feed your people. The game is won at the table.

We made bean and cheese for the kids every year — Gloria’s concession to the ones who couldn’t handle the red chile yet, or just wouldn’t. Diego didn’t graduate to pork until he was nine. Standing there beside him at the masa station, watching him spread his own husks with that reckless generosity, I thought about how the vegetarian ones were never an afterthought — they were the entry point, the first tamale most of the grandkids ever ate. If you’re feeding a crowd that spans five years old to seventy-five, you need something for everyone, and these vegetarian Christmas dishes do exactly what those bean and cheese tamales always did: they hold the table together.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 large poblano peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cooked long-grain white rice
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
Sour cream and salsa verde, for serving

Instructions

Roast the peppers. Preheat oven to 425°F. Place poblanos on a baking sheet, brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and roast for 15 minutes until skins blister and soften. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 375°F.
Prepare the peppers. Once cool enough to handle, cut each poblano in half lengthwise and remove seeds and membranes. Arrange cut-side up in a lightly oiled 9x13 baking dish.
Cook the filling. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook 5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in black beans, rice, corn, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cook 3 minutes until heated through and well combined.
Add cheese to filling. Remove skillet from heat. Stir in 3/4 cup of the Monterey Jack and all of the cheddar. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Stuff and top. Divide filling evenly among the pepper halves, pressing gently to fill completely. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup Monterey Jack evenly over the tops.
Bake. Bake at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes until cheese is melted, bubbly, and beginning to brown at the edges.
Finish and serve. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Scatter fresh cilantro over the top. Serve with sour cream and salsa verde on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Vegetarian Christmas Dishes — The Bean and Cheese Tamales Are for the Kids