The Tex-Mex Kitchen: Tamale Pie

 Tamale pie is a casserole or pie created in the southwest in the early 1900's. It is created with a cornmeal or masa crust and ingredients traditionally used in tamales. The dish is believed to have been created in Texas and the first known published recipe was in 1911.

It is traditionally made with ground beef, pork, chorizo, or chicken. It also can include beans, cheese, corn, black olives, onion, garlic, tomato, bell pepper, or green chiles. The dish is typically baked in the oven. 

Ingredients:

1lb ground meat (beef,pork,chicken,chorizo)

salt and pepper to taste

1 TBSP olive oil

2 large cloves garlic minced

1 TBSP flour

1/2 C beef broth or stock

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

1 1/2 TBSP chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander 

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp mexican oregano

1/4 tsp chipotle powder

1 4oz can green chiles

1 1/2 C shredded cheese (monterey jack, cheddar, pepperjack)

For topping:

2 C masa flour

1 TBSP baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

4 TBSP melted and cooled butter

1 1/2 C milk room temperature

1 egg room temperature

The Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease casserole dish.

In a large skillet brown ground beef and season with salt and pepper and set aside in a bowl or plate.

In the same skillet, reduce the heat to medium. Add olive oil and garlic stir for 30 seconds until fragrant.

Whisk in flour and stir continuously for 1 min. Slowly whisk in broth and tomato sauce followed by the rest of the seasoning (chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic salt, onion powder, oregano, and chipotle).

Bring the sauce to simmer. Reduce to low stirring occasionally for a couple minutes until thickened. 

Turn off the heat and stir in the ground meat and green chiles and 1 C of the cheese. Transfer to the baking dish and set aside. 

In medium bowl, whisk together the masa, baking powder, and salt. 

Stir in the melted butter, milk, egg, and remaining cheese until just combined. It will be very thick.

Dollop the masa mixture over the beef mixture and spready to the edges (if you can). Bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and tester comes out clean.

 

Tips: 

For the coriander I used one of my frozen cubes with avocado oil and it worked really well. 

I was out of tomato sauce but was able to make some with some tomato paste and water. 

I was out of green chiles so I used a can of rotel instead. 

The masa mixture is very thick. You have to use quite a bit of elbow grease to mix it and I found it very hard to spread. I used my fingers and spread as well as I could. This means some parts are very doughy instead of it being like a crust on the top. 

I garnished with cilantro. You could also use sour cream, salsa, pico de gallo, guacamole, diced tomatoes, or diced onion.

This yields 4-6 servings.