Tasty Tamale Pie - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Beef Filling
1 1/4 lbs lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 -3 teaspoons chili powder
1 dash pepper
1 (15 ounce) can black beans or (15 ounce) can refried beans
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Cornmeal Topping
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine

Preparation

Cook meat, onion, and green pepper in a large skillet until meat is browned; drain fat.
Stir in tomato sauce, corn, olives, garlic, seasonings, and beans; simmer, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes until thick; stir in cheese then remove from heat.
Meanwhile, stir cornmeal, salt, and cold water together in a saucepan; cook over medium-high heat (please be careful as hot cornmeal mixture may spatter) for a minute or two, stirring constantly, until thick; remove from heat and stir in butter.
Turn meat filling into a 9x13\" baking dish that has been lightly coated with no-stick cooking spray; spoon cornmeal topping evenly over entire top of beef filling.
Bake at 375\u00b0 for about 40 minutes until cornmeal topping is set and beef filling is bubbly; serve topped with salsa and sour cream.
NOTE: Family-sized portions of the cooked beef filling freeze excellently in Ziploc freezer bags - To serve: Just thaw, turn meat filling into a prepared baking dish, quickly make and spoon on a proportional amount (for a frozen half-batch to be baked in an 8x8\" pan, prepare topping using 1/2 cup cornmeal and 1 1/3 cup water) of cornmeal topping, bake and enjoy!