Tamale Pie

Tamale Pie

Serves 4-6 people

Not going to lie, making this recipe was slightly stressful.  Not the recipe, but the crying, searching and puppy noses where they shouldn't be.  Crying - I strapped Grace into her highchair and gave her a bottle to play with.  She played contently for about 15 minutes (pretty good).  She then started the game of drop it on the floor and fuss/cry when I didn't go pick it up.  Searching - I knew I had purchased a pound of ground beef this past weekend but for the life of me I couldn't find the damn thing.  I looked in the fridge, back of my car (although I hadn't smelled anything funky), and the freezer.  Finally on my second look in the freezer I found that John and left it in the grocery bag and stuffed it behind other stuff.  So needless to say it was frozen solid.  Puppy noses -- Louis likes to assist and try to get his nose burnt.

With all the hoopla going on I forgot to season as I went so I had to add salt to the top after it came out of the oven.  But, all in all it came out tasty and it was easy...just make sure you don't have frozen meat and then not realize that the defrost feature on the microwave only defrosted the outside so you had meat on ice that you try to brown.

I adapted the recipe from Mad Hungry.

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb. ground beef (I had extra lean)
1 T tomato paste
1 15 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
cilantro, as garnish
sour cream, as garnish

Utensils:
cast iron skillet (10 inches)
pot with lid
whisk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Add the olive oil, onion and garlic to skillet over medium heat and soften the onions.  Add the coriander, cumin, red pepper flakes and salt & pepper.  Stir around.  Add the beef and brown until nearly cooked through.  Add the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes.  Stir to incorporate.

While the onions and beef mixture is cooking, bring 2 1/2 cups of water up to a boil in a small pot.  Once water is up to a boil SLOWLY whisk in the cornmeal and whisk until incorporated and there are no lumps.  Add salt and pepper.  Off the heat, add the cheddar cheese and whisk to incorporate into the cornmeal mixture.

In the skillet, even out the beef mixture so it is flat.  Add the cornmeal mixture on top of the beef and spread out.

Put in oven for about 25-30 minutes until bubbly.  Take out and let rest for a few minutes.

Garnish with sour cream and cilantro.

Voila!