CORNBREAD TAMALE PIE

CORNBREAD TAMALE PIE image

Number Of Ingredients 10

Steps:

First, get out your cast-iron skillet. If you don't have one, steal one from your parents' attic. That is what I did, and I honestly don't think they even know it's gone yet. Then, brown some ground beef in that pan. Remove the ground beef and add chopped onions, green bell peppers, and a hit of red pepper flakes. This is not the time for Aleppo pepper, harissa, or imported dried whole chiles. This is the time for a shaker container of red pepper flakes, so embrace it and add 'em in. Once the veggies have softened, add the meat back in, along with a can or two of diced tomatoes. Simmer it all together, then slather on your favorite cornbread batter. You're going to want to bake this until the cornbread topping is deeply golden and a little crusty-the whole point of this dish is breaking through a crunchy exterior to get to the spicy, saucy chili (it is, essentially, a chili) underneath. But the very best part of the pan lies between that upper crust and the meaty sauce: the layer of cornbread that abuts the tomatoes. It's drenched in sauce and soggy, but, you know, the good kind of soggy. Like when you use a piece of bread to mop up the last bit of a ragu. That's where the magic happens in cornbread tamale pie, and it still gets me. Every single time.