Day 180 – Tamale Pie

For dinner tonight I used, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Thirteenth Edition, p. 177; authors, Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna; publisher, Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., an imprint of Random House, Inc.;ISBN 0-385-19577-X.

Tamale Pie – serves 6
Crust
4 cups waterasm
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup yellow cornmeal

Filling
1 medium-size yellow onion, coarsely
1/2 of a green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder (original recipe called for 1 tablespoon)
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
pinch of freshly ground pepper
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

Topping
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.
Bring water and salt to a boil in a large saucepan, very gradually add the corn meal, whisking constantly so that it doesn’t clump.
Turn heat to low and continue cooking and stirring about 5 minutes until quite thick.
Spread 2/3 of the cornmeal mixture in the bottom of a greased 9 X 9 X 2-inch pan and set aside; keep the rest warm.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.

I rate the items I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 1 being “don’t waste your time, money or ingredients” and 4 being “you’ve GOT to try this!!!!”. This Tamale Pie earned 2 rolling pins.
The five members of the 365 family were not thrilled with this dish. There was plenty left over and it will not be eaten tomorrow.
It was just kind of blah. The cornmeal crusts had no flavor and my husband thought it was too thick.  The meat filling was ok, it kind of tasted like a sloppy joe.
The original recipe called for 1 tablespoon of chili powder, but I only added 2 teaspoons because I didn’t want it to be too spicy. But I think I should have added the full amount.
So many dinners this week, I think it’s about time for some dessert!
Happy baking!!
Thank you so much for reading!!