Tamale Pie

This is another recipe from Catherine Newman over at Ben & Birdy.  I've meant to make it for a while, and am glad I finally did!  It turned out really well, my husband loved it.  He's not a fan of regular tamales and liked it a lot more than them.  I personally love tamales, and this tamale pie doesn't bear many similarities to them, but that's okay.  This honestly turned out better than I expected.  I've seen many recipes for tamale pie and always passed them by because I thought they'd be kind of boring, but I've had great success with all of Catherine's recipes, so decided to try her version.  I'll certainly make this one again! 
 

This recipe is tweaked a bit from the original.  I had to add a bit more buttermilk (just milk plus a little vinegar) to make the batter... batter (instead of dough) and decided to put all the cheese on top because cheese seems to disappear into baked goods.  In the future, I'd like to experiment with using another can of beans instead of the corn and leave out the sugar, but it sure was good this way!

 

 

 

Tamale Pie

1 lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic, minced

15 oz can pinto beans, drained

8 oz can plain tomato sauce

2 C frozen corn

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp white vinegar
 

for cornbread topping:

2/3 C cornmeal

1/3 C whole wheat flour (or you can use white)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

2/3 C buttermilk

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 egg

1 C grated cheddar
 

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 2 quart baking dish.
 

Heat a nonstick pan over medium and add ground beef and minced garlic.  Break up with a spatula and cook until the meat is cooked through and crumbled.  Add beans, tomato sauce, and seasonings.  Stir to combine, reduce heat to low, and simmer while you prepare the cornbread topping.
 

In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients for cornbread topping.  Add buttermilk, oil, and egg, and stir just until well combined.
 

Spoon meat filling evenly into prepared baking dish, then pour cornbread batter over top.  Spread with a spatula.
 

Bake 15 minutes, then sprinkle on cheddar cheese.  Bake 5 more minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

 

Yield: 6 servings