Tamale Pie

I enjoy cooking from scratch. But sometimes you need recipes that are a little bit easier and don't have as much prep so you can get other stuff done. Recently we tried out a new recipe for a tamale pie that I found on the Trader Joe's site, and it was super easy and tasty.

Ingredients

1/2 jar of TJ's corn and chile salsa ($1.25)

1 can of chicken chili (~$0.99)

1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper ($0.10)

1 package of TJ's fully cooked polenta ($1.99)

2/3 bag of shredded cheese ($2.50)

Sour cream, for garnish ($0.40)

The recipe called for two packages of polenta, but that seemed kind of heavy, so I adapted the recipe and only used one. It probably makes a better "pie" if you use two rolls of polenta, but we liked this "lighter" version as well.

The total cost of the recipe was about $7.23 using one package of polenta, and would have approached $10 if we had used both. Not a bad price for dinner for two if you're comparing to restaurant prices, but more than some of our purely from scratch meals. But when you need convenience, you pay for your time!

Process

1. Mix together 1/2 jar of salsa, the can of chicken chili and cayenne pepper. Stir well.

2. Cut half the polenta into rounds and layer the bottom of a greased (with cooking spray) 8x8 pan. (If you use two packages of polenta in the recipe, use an entire package here.)

3. Pour chili/salsa mixture on top of the polenta rounds, and sprinkle half the cheese on top.

4. Top the mixture with the rest of the polenta rounds and the rest of the cheese.

5. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is golden and the pie looks done. It took us about 40-45 minutes.

6.  Cut into slices and serve!

Review

We liked this "tamale pie." It didn't really come out as slices of a fully formed pie for us since we didn't have thick layers of polenta on the top and bottom, but we didn't really care since it was still tasty. We just ate it out of a bowl as if it were a chili, polenta and cheese casserole. It was super simple to prep (didn't even need the cutting board!) and assemble, and after that, just let it bake. It's a perfect recipe for a busy night when you can't spend that much time prepping fresh ingredients or actively cooking, but still want something nutritious and tasty. We would definitely make this again.