Tamale Pie

Wow, this is my first post! Amazing how you wait so diligently to post something; to make sure your blog is set up just the way you want it to be.

Hopefully I get this right. I love to cook, transcribe recipes—in general, I LOVE food. So I thought this would be the perfect way to get my love affair out there. Ironic that I’m laying in bed writing this, eh? Anyway, it’s starting to get cold outside and fall has officially commenced (I suppose, we don’t really get a fall here in Oklahoma City) so I was quite lucky to have drawn this recipe out of my collection. It’s warm, spicy, and filling so it’s the perfect meal for a cold fall-ish evening.

This meal splatters while cooking, so....watch out! — This meal splatters while cooking, so….watch out!

Of course, I had to wait a few days to make this…work has been hectic right now. Usually fall isn’t the time of year for breaking news, but there have been quite a few, well, interesting stories to have popped out of the metro over the course of a few weeks. Six bodies found in a local lake in 40-year-old cars, an explosion at a factory, a tiger mauls a woman’s arm off, a teenager sells “Save the Scenic Views” t-shirts at his highschool and gets suspended…basically a news GOLDMINE. Bet you never thought your city could be this interesting, huh? Neither did I.

So with all of the craziness happening around our area, I have been hauling in long hours at work to cover these stories. Not to mention we’re a bit short-staffed right now, so my days off have changed. That is, if I’m lucky enough to get a day off.

So, after years of copying recipes from every cook book, person and magazine known to man, here I am blogging about the first recipe I drew while blindfolded (not really) out of one of my recipe boxes. I miraculously had the day off, so I decided to try this recipe out.

Tamale Pie

1 lb. ground beef or chuck
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
6 oz. grated cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups corn
1 (4oz) can green chiles, chopped
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups cold water
1 TBS. butter
Not very many ingredients needed for this dish.

1. Cook meat, onion, and bell pepper in a large skillet until meat is lightly browned and veggies are tender. Stir in tomato sauce, corn, green chiles, garlic, salt, chili powders & pepper. Simmer 20-25 minutes of until thick. Stir in cheese.

This little bastard was not only pricey ($10!), but ridiculously hard to find...but well worth it. — This little bastard was not only pricey ($10!), but ridiculously hard to find…but well worth it.

2. Transfer meat mixture into a greased 9x9x2 (or a circle pie pan, which is what I used instead) baking dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. In small pot, stir cornmeal & 1/2 tsp salt into cold water. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until cornmeal mixture starts to resemble cornbread dough and is thick. Add butter and mix well.