TAMALE PIE POLENTA RECIPES

Steps:

• Sauté beef in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until no longer pink, breaking up meat with back of fork, about 3 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin; stir 1 minute. Add salsa, beans and broth. Simmer until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Mix in 1/4 cup cilantro; season with salt and pepper.
• Oil 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place half of polenta in dish. Top with sauce and 1 1/2 cups cheese, then remaining polenta, cheese and cilantro. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with foil; chill.)
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake freshly assembled pie, uncovered, until heated through and sauce bubbles, about 35 minutes, or bake refrigerated pie, covered, 20 minutes, then uncover and bake until heated through, about 35 minutes.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all the ingredients for the red sauce in a medium saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Taste and adjust the seasoning howeverthefuck you want. We usually add more cayenne pepper bc we like that shit but you do you. Turn off the heat and set the sauce aside. Chop the bell pepper, zucchini, potato, and onion into pieces kinda bean-sized. In a large skillet or wok, warm the oil over a medium heat and add the potato. Sauté for about 8 minutes or till the potato begins to soften up. If they start to stick to the pan, your instinct might be to add more oil but FUCK THAT. Just add some splashes of water instead. When the potatoes seem like they are on their way to being cooked, add the onions and cook them all for another 5 minutes. Now you gotta multitask for a minute. Put a big pot filled with the 6 cups of water on the stove and bring to a boil. You can forget about that till you hear it bubbling, which will take a bit. Back to the main shit, add the bell pepper and zucchini to the skillet with the potatoes and onion. Cook for another 3-5 minutes. The potatoes should be getting soft by now. Chop up the garlic and jalapeño into small pieces and throw those in next. When you can start to smell the garlic, add the remaining spices, salt, lime juice, and beans. Stir all that shit around. Now add a cup of the red sauce, stir, and taste that shit. You can add more garlic, sauce, or whatever you think it needs. Turn off the heat. Your big ass pot of water oughta be boiling by now. Add the salt and slowly stir in the cornmeal. Bring the heat down low so that you get a bubble coming up only once and awhile. Stir every couple of minutes until the mixture is nice and thick LIKE THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE, about 15-20 minutes. If it starts getting too thick but it isn’t done, just add a little more water and keep cooking. Then add the garlic powder and oil right before that polenta is done cooking. Turn off the heat. Grab a baking dish (9”x13” or something close to that is fine) and lightly oil that fucker down so nothing will stick. Pour in about 2 ½ cups of the cooked polenta and spread that shit out as even as you can. Next, pile in the bean and potato filling but leave about a half inch free around the sides of the polenta. Pour a little more of the red sauce over the filling and cover all of that with the rest of the polenta. Cover the container with foil and bake for 20 minutes so that it all comes together like a savory tamale breakfast cake thing. Let it rest for about 5-10 minutes before cutting into it. Drizzle with the remaining red sauce and serve with avocado, cilantro, more jalapeños, salsa, tequila, whateverthefuck you're in to. Some of y'all might be looking at these directions thinkin WHOA THAT LOOKS COMPLICATED AF. Calm. Your. Shit. This is an easy dish that you can even bake the night before and just warm it up before brunch the next day. Nobody will know the goddamn difference.