Skillet Tamale Pie

Skillet Tamale Pie
from Rachael Ray

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups whole milk or half-and-half
2 bacon slices, chopped
3/4 lb ground beef
3/4 lb ground pork
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
3 to 4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
pinch of ground cinnamon
salt and black pepper
1 (15-oz) can tomato sauce
2 cups quick-cooking polenta
1 cup shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

1. Preheat the broiler to high and place the oven rack 1 rung beneath the highest level of your oven.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high to high heat. Combine the chicken stock and milk in a pot to bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Add bacon to the hot olive oil and cook for 2 minutes or until crisp, then add the ground meats, raise the heat to high, and cook until they are browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onions, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic and season with the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes to soften the vegetables, then stir in the tomato sauce and heat through, 1 minute more.
4. While the meat cooks, whisk the polenta into the simmering stock and milk. Stir for 5 minutes, or until the polenta is thick and masses together in the pot. Use a rubber spatula to spread the polenta over the meat mixture and top with the cheese. Place the skillet under the hot broiler to brown the cheese and set the polenta, about 1 minute. Serve directly from the skillet

Serves 4.Prior to this recipe, I had never tried polenta before. I knew the general idea of it but had never actually eaten it and certainly had never purchased it. I had no idea what to even look for in the store. I wandered around a lot. Just in case one of you might be in the same boat, this is what the polenta I found looks like. I found it in the specialty section of the Italian foods (by the parmesan cheese, etc).

The bacon and ground meats cooking. I ended up using more meat than the recipe called for. I had 1 lb packages of meat and I wasn't going to try to separate out 1/4 lb of each of the meats and save them for a later date. I could have, I guess, but I didn't.

Meats and vegetables. I skipped the jalapeno: one reason being that I'm often nice to my husband and daughter who aren't really fond of spice, and two because I didn't really want to mess with the jalapeno if it would just lead to complaints anyway.

The polenta cooking.

The polenta cooked. It's a little bit grainy and a whole lot creamy, which you would think are opposites but aren't.

The meat mixture. It smelled yummy. I put in maybe a bit more than a pinch of cinnamon (I'm not one hundred percent sure how much that is anyway). The cinnamon sounds like a weird addition to this meal but it's not. It adds an awesome depth of flavor so don't skip it.

The skillets I have all involve handles that would burn/melt in the oven. I heard that you could just wrap that type of handle in foil and put it in the oven (if it's not going to be in there to long). I was still a little bit nervous trying it but the wrapping technique worked just fine.

The finished product: ugly but delicious. This isn't the most beautiful meal ever created but it certainly is tasty. The meat mixture is addictive. The cinnamon is barely recognizable in scent but it combines wonderfully with the spices and peppers. The polenta is creamy, dreamy, wonderful. It mimics the corn tortilla flavor of a regular tamale but with a much more interesting texture. Tyler and Addilyn were okay with this meal (which was kind of surprising to me; Rachael Ray was kidding when she marked this as a "the Kids Will Eat It" meal) and I loved it!