Tasty Tamale Pie - Casserole

Submitted by Chicagoland Chef du

"This recipe is from our grammar school cookbook. Thank you Kathy G! My DH made this and I was truly impressed. This can be made as mild or as spicy as you like. Choose your salsa, cheese & amount of jalapeno according to your taste. Olives are optional. I also like to make the salsa smoother in the food processor to make it more kid friendly (no pieces!). I have used both condensed and regular whole milk with success, also combined bottled and fresh salsa."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• FILLING

• 1 lb lean ground beef, cooked and drained
• 1 small onion, fine dice
• 16 ounces bottled salsa, any heat preference I like medium
• 1⁄3 cup water
• 1 (7/8 ounce) packet taco seasoning, Chi Chi's Fiesta is my preference
• 3 ounces ripe black olives, chopped (optional)

• CRUST

• 1 cup cornmeal, dry
• 12 ounces evaporated milk, I have used whole milk
• 4 ounces green chilies, canned, diced
• 1 cup monterey jack pepper cheese, divided, grated, sub. cheddar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 jalapeno, sliced

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet until beef is browned, and onions tender, drain.
3. Stir in salsa (can make smoother in texture in the food processor, if you desire), water and taco seasoning packet; bring to a boil until some of the water as boiled off and it is the sauce is saucy not thin and watery.
4. Reduce heat to low and stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes. Add olives, if using, and stir.
5. In a medium sauces pan: combine cornmeal, evaporated milk, green chilies, 1/2 C cheese and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5-7 minutes or until thickened (to the consistency of thin oatmeal).
6. In a 8x8 ungreased baking dish: Spoon in meat filling, then spread cornmeal on top of meat mixture.
7. Bake for 25 minutes, sprinkle with remaining cheese and garnish w/ jalapenos. Bake an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Reviews

[Amy G.]

Just finished making and eating this. I am feeding a horde so modified it slightly to accommodate not havng quite enough to double the recipe, and mostly all that entailed was adding a can of refried beans to the meat mix. Left out the jalapeños. I also used my own taco seasoning, recipe available on garden-of-eatin.com So in actuality, I made it almost exactly as written, and it's a solid 5 star. Definitely use a good salsa, a poor one would make the difference in a recipe like this!

 

[Kathleen L.]

Had this for dinner tonight and it was excellent! We really liked the 'polenta' like topping. I added kidney beans, just because, and used mozza/cheddar as that was what was in the fridge.

 

[Andrea in NH]

This is a great tamale pie. It goes together quickly and the ingredients are always on hand. I used my own salsa and taco seasoning and instead of a jalapeno I used 1 habanaro.

 

[Henrys Kitchen]

I followed exactly except for more olives. The "crust" thickened really fast and was a little hard to spread, but tasted like a really good tamale. Next time I'll use HOT salsa & add an additional jalepeno or two and serve with sour cream. We had a ranch salad on the side and it was a perfect dinner! A definite keeper!

 

[Melissa R.]

I made this for supper last night, It was awsome!! I did a little substituting but mostly followed the recipe, I used 3/4 cup of picante sauce and a 8 oz can of mexican tomato sauce in place of the 16 oz salsa. Good eats I tell ya!