Cornbread Topped Tamale Pie

Submitted by Chicago Girl

"This is a quick, hearty comfort dish which is easy to make. It tastes like tamales, without the work! I am always asked for the recipe wherever I make it. You can make the meat mixture ahead of time, and just do the cornbread when you are ready to bake."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 (8 1/2 ounce) box cornbread mix (I use Jiffy)
• 1 egg
• 1⁄3 cup milk
• 1 pinch black pepper (less to taste)
• 1 lb ground beef, browned drained & rinsed
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
• 1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 1 (15 1/4 ounce) can corn, drained

directions

1. Mix corn bread mix, egg, and milk and let set.
2. Brown ground beef in 1 cup water for fine crumbles. Drain and rinse fat.
3. Mix all non-cornbread ingredients.
4. Spray or grease an 8x8 pan.
5. Spread all of meat mixture in pan.
6. Carefully pour cornbread on top.
7. Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick in the cornbread's center is clean.

Reviews

[Micheale MacPherson]

Great recipe. I personally didn't have tomato paste, green chilies or black olives. I substituted the tomato paste with one can of tomato sauce and my family loved it.

 

[CarrolJ]

I made this recipe exactly like posted except I added salt, pepper, and chili powder to the meat. (my DH would have complained the dish was too bland if I hadn't added a few spices at least to the meat when I cooked it.) My instinct told me to cut the amount of tomato paste listed to 1. I wanted to follow the recipe as closely as possible so I didn't do that. It definitely has too much tomato paste. One can would have been enough...and perhaps either adding a can of water or substituting tomato sauce for the tomato paste would have made the dish much better and much more enjoyable. Made for PAC Spring 2014.