Tamale Pie

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon oil or spray release
• 1 package Corn Bread/Muffin batter - follow directions on package Use your own to make about 1 and 1/3 cup s batter
• Beans, from rice and beans or canned
• Meat, any except fish

Utensils

• 9”x13”x2” Baking pan or similar

Directions

This recipie is based on something I was introduced to many years ago which I was told was tamale pie.  There are many variations of this and I have used it as a ‘mexican leftover cassarole’ on many occations.  From the basic recipie, you can feed many people from new or leftover items.

Basic Recipie:

Prep:  Oven at 350f

Time: Combine 5 minutes.  Cook 30 minutes

Technique: oil the pan.  You can either put a little corn meal or flour on the oil at this point.  Put down a layer of beans, a little cheese, then a layer of meat.  Pour the corn bread batter over the top, put more cheese on the top.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Check and take off the foil cover.  Let it cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.  You are looking for a cornbread crust that is lightly brown and the cheese is also brown but not burnt.  The inside ingrediants should be warm, but not molten hot.  If it does not seem to be warm all the way through, put it in for another 5 minutes or so.  If you have convection, turn it on at the end.

Serve: Cut into four, six or eight peices if you want to be formal, just let people scoop out how much they want if not.  Have mexican red sauce, picante, guacamole or any other side that you want to have.

Variations: Add chopped cooked vegitables between the beans and the meat.  Use crushed corn chips or tortillias instead of the corn bread batter.  Use fine crushed or slivered nuts on top instead of cheese.  Combine meats that you may have either in layers or sectioned for different people.  Put tomato sauce as a layer.  Salsa as a layer also works.