Tamale Pie

This was Tamale Pie.

I accidentally found Tamale Pie by searching a kind of Mexican food recipes that use two poblano peppers that was sitting in the refrigerator. I didn't know such dish existed. Tacos-like seasoned ground beef filling with cornbread topping. Yes, I like cornbread very much. It looks like shepherd's pie. Yes, I like shepherd's pie pretty much. So why not Tamale pie? There were interestingly many recipes of Tamale Pie online. Apparently it's not an authentic Mexican food but a Tex-Mex. I found a recipe with a picture of a nice thick corn bread layer. Although it didn't call for poblano peppers, the recipe called for 1 green pepper and 2 jalapeno peppers, which I believed could replace with 2 poblano peppers. The recipe was made in a 9" x 13" container for 8 servings. Eating 4 days sounded too much. To adjust the volume to a 8" x 8" container for 4 servings, I reduced the amount of some ingredients like ground beef and skipping corn kernels. Cornbread on the top and corn kernels in the filling sounded redundant for me. Then I realized the filling might not be enough, so I added a can of pinto beans. To make more flavorful, I also added 1 clove garlic and about 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro and used 1 can diced tomato without draining.

The filling neatly fitted in 8" x 8" glass container. For cheese, the recipe used Monterey Jack cheese. I used Mexican mix. I didn't mix the cheese in the filling. Instead, I made the cheese layer in the middle of fillings. Why? I didn't want to mess the pan with melting cheese. Also I wanted to find the cheese in the filling when I eat.

I halved the amount of cornbread topping and replaced whole milk with a mixture of low-fat milk and low-fat yogurt.

After baking for 30 minutes, the cornbread topping was done and the filling was bubbling.

The cornbread layer wasn't thick like the picture of the recipe, but the volume balance between cornbread and filling was just right. I really liked the cornbread layer. It was so light! My poblano pepper substitute added nice peppery flavors and heat. J liked this pie very much too. His only wish was more ground beef... Well, the bean filler was my clever and healthy idea that he should appreciate!