Pickled Beans and Things: Hot Tamale Pie

Adapted from Chef John, Foodwishes.com.

An easy recipe that we had for dinner a couple of nights ago. To save time I had cooked the meat earlier in week. I sauteed the vegetables with the spices and then added the precooked meat.

This recipe is highly adaptable - so be creative and add or substitute vegies that you have on hand.

Hot Tamale Pie

1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb chorizo
1 med diced green pepper
1 med diced onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup salsa
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground dried chipotle pepper
1 (8.5 ounce) box dry corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy®)
1 egg
1/3 cup skim milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar-Jack cheese, divided
Salsa, Taco Sauce, Sour Cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a deep dish pie plate with cooking spray.

2. Cook ground beef and chorizo in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat starts to brown and release juices, about 5 minutes. I mashed meat with a potato masher as it cooked to help break it into small pieces.

3. Reduce heat to medium and stir in green pepper, onion, salt, salsa, oregano, and chipotle powder; cook and stir until beef is crumbly and no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

4. Mix package of corn muffin mix in a medium bowl with egg and milk, stirring to combine.

5. Spread about 1/3 of the prepared corn muffin mixture in the bottom of the pie plate. Top with half of the cheese. Sprinkle beef mixture over cornbread layer.

6. Mix the remaining cheese into the remaining corn bread mixture. Spoon this on top of the beef and carefully spread over the top with a fork, leaving about half an inch from the edges of the pan.