Tamale Pie

Yeah, that’s right. I often cook the way I make fun of. “Ethnic” dishes that are cheap, easy, and take shortcuts. If you ever catch me using a can of condensed soup, pimp-slap me.

1 cup masa harina
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 pound ground beef
1 15 ounce can corn
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 2 quart casserole dish or dutch oven. In a saucepan, bring water to boil. Slowly add the cornmeal and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the salt and butter and stir until combined; set aside.

Pour 2/3 of the hot cornmeal batter into a 2 quart casserole dish. Using the spoon, bring it up the sides as far as it will reach. The batter should be slightly looser than biscuit dough.

In a large frying pan, cook, but don’t brown, the ground beef, breaking it up into crumbs as it cooks. Drain and rinse corn and beans and add them to beef along with chili powder and tomato sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat until very hot and pour mixture into the casserole dish lined with cornmeal batter. Push the meat mixture into the center of the mix, which should spread the batter up the sides of the dutch oven.

Spoon remaining cornmeal batter on top. Top with grated cheese and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cheese is melted and browned.

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