Tamale Pie

So I had never heard of such a thing. Tamale pie. That's an oxymoron. Tamales don't come in pie. Pie is not corny and spicy. But there it was in the CI 30 minute recipe book. I mentioned it to Rich who responded positively. It is essentially cooked taco filling with cornbread baked on top. Sounded interesting. I decided I'd make it on a Monday night, on a day I work from home so I could take the time to do it properly the first time.

Yesterday, I made my first tamale pie. It turned out surprisingly tasty. I, of course, adapted the recipe immediately to suit our tastes and made a little personal-sized tamale pie for Drew before spicing up the fillings. As a result, the whole thing took WAY longer than half an hour. Maybe double, in the end? But man, was it tasty! I served it with some leftover Mexican rice from the prior evening and some lettuce meant to be turned into a salad which was somehow forgotten despite the fact that it was sitting right there, in the middle of the table.

I promise I'll get better at taking pictures of things for dramatic effect. In the meantime, you can take my word for it. It was delicious. Surprisingly good. And Rich and Drew both really liked it. And Rich and I both loved it for lunch today. I even had a little piece with dinner tonight. (This is astounding as I am not a repeat-eater. In general, I dislike eating the same thing for multiple meals in a row.)

So here is my adapted recipe for tamale pie a la Amy. :) I found the recipe made more than a pie pan's worth, so I ended up making two small casseroles in addition to the pie pan. I don't know that it's enough for a 13x9, maybe an 8x8? In theory, CI says this is should be baked in the 12" skillet in which it was prepared. Since I use nonstick to cut down on the oil used in the recipe, I couldn't put it in the oven (hot teflon = fumes = bad for everyone), so I used other things.

Also, mine took over half a hour to bake, in the end, because it just wouldn't bake. I took it out to test when the cornbread was browned, but just under the beautifully browned crust, the cornbread batter was still totally raw, so back into the oven it went. Just make sure it is fully baked before removing.

Note: I think this would work GREAT as a vegetarian meal. Obviously, no beef or chicken stock, but I was thinking that I'd add some frozen corn and maybe some kind of squash, chopped up, for the volume. I think it would be really good. I even think I could get Rich to take it seriously as a meal. (He currently requires animal protein to consider a meal a meal.)

I served this with our favorite Mexican rice and the salad that was not consumed. I'll blog the rice recipe soon. It is seriously the best Mexican rice ever! (And I made like a dozen different recipes before finding this one!)

Tamale Pie
adapted from Cooks Illustrated, The Best 30-Minute Recipes

Ingredients
some vegetable oil
1 large or 1.5 small onions, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder (yes, 2, and no, I did not add any extra for this one)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef (as lean as you want, I think ground chicken or turkey would work well in this recipe)
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 14.5 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
1 jalapeno, chopped finely, omit ribs and seeds if desired (we have particularly spicy ones right now, otherwise, I would have used two. And yes, we used the seeds and ribs.)
1-1.5 cups chopped cilantro (I just take half of a bunch from the store and chop the heck out of it, stems and all)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 recipe cornbread of your choice (CI actually recommends Jiffy. We happened to have a bag of Marie Callendar's from Costco, acquired after a particularly satisfying jaunt to a MC's in Oregon.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prep an 8x8 square or deep dish pie pan by spraying some nonstick spray onto it. If making two, use standard pie plates - the filling will fill two regular pie pans pretty easily.

Cook the ground beef in a skillet until browned. Using a spoon, separate any large lumps. When cooked, drain thoroughly.

Prepare whatever cornbread recipe you have decided to use. Set aside the batter.

In a large nonstick pan, heat 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium/medium-high heat and saute the onion until softened, about 2-3 minutes. Then add the chili powder and stir frequently. (Watch out for the 'fumes' which can cause coughing!) After another 2-3 minutes, add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Don't let it burn! (If you want the jalapeno, but don't want all the heat, you can add it now to cook it a bit and mellow it out.)

Now add the tomatoes and the black beans and incorporate thoroughly. Add the ground beef. If the mixture dries up, add the chicken broth. There should be some liquid to keep the meat moist in the oven. Once everything is simmering nicely, take it off the heat and stir in the cilantro, and cheese.

At this point, if you are cooking for kids or those who don't handle spicy, portion out enough for a separate prepared pan or casserole (maybe half). And into the rest, mix in the jalapeno (if you didn't already add it earlier).

Carefully put the mixture into the prepared pan. Ideally, you want a fairly thick layer of filling on the bottom of the pan (like 3/4"-1").

Pour cornbread batter over the top of the filling. I found that 1/2" to 3/4" of cornbread batter worked well. Any more and the baked cornbread never seems to finish cooking.

Bake the completed "pie" in the oven until the cornbread is baked. This can vary, depending on how thick you poured your cornbread layer.

To serve, cut portion lines along the cornbread and let some of the steam escape. Then scoop the cornbread and filling out.

This reheats beautifully in the microwave. Perfect hearty lunch to take to work!