Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Stuffed Mexican Cornbread

My mother used to make Stuffed Mexican Cornbread when I was growing up. Our first year overseas was rather unadventurous culinarily speaking. Lots of scrambled egg sandwiches for the adults and mashed bananas for MS. At some point, though, I managed to recreate this recipe from memory with what was available. It was one of my first cooking successes (and if you doubt that, ask ML about some of the failures).

It is still one of ML's favorite meals and usually what he wants to break his fasts with. I know. But he has an iron stomach.


serves 4-5

• 1 lbs. ground meat
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning (approx. 2 t)
o plus water according to directions
• 3 med. tomatoes, chopped
o or one can tomatoes, partially drained & chopped
• 1 can diced Rotel, partially drained
o or 1/2 – 1 C salsa
• 1 can kidney beans
o or 1 can/1 1/2 C refried beans
• 1 can whole kernel corn
o or 1 1/2 C frozen corn, thawed
• 1 C shredded carrots (optional)
• 1 recipe cornbread batter (see recipe below or mix 2 Jiffy mixes according to package directions)
• sour cream, for topping
• extra salsa, for topping

1. Brown meat and onions (and garlic).
2. Drain (if you live somewhere where animals are fatty enough to require this step).
3. Add taco seasoning and water and simmer according to directions.
4. Transfer meat, onions & garlic (if using) to 9x12 baking dish.
5. Add tomatoes, Rotel or salsa, kidney beans, corn and carrots (if using). (If using refried beans, stir other ingredients first, and spread beans in a layer before topping with cornbread batter.)
6. Stir to mix.
7. Top with cornbread batter.
8. Bake at 425* for 20 - 25 mins. or until cornbread is golden brown.
9. Top with sour cream and salsa when serving.

This recipe is very flexible. Add, substitute, leave out as you please or as you have available.

For instance, when we had this last week, I had ground beef and onions already cooked in the freezer, so I stirred the taco seasoning in with the other ingredients. We had fresh tomatoes, jarred salsa, and canned corn, so that's what I use. We really prefer the taste of refried beans to kidney beans, so I made sure we had some UnRefried Beans from the freezer to use. MA and ZL are allergic to carrots, so we don't use those these days, although I like what it adds nutritionally, so I'd use them again someday, if I can. And JW is allergic to garlic, so we're not using any of that these days, either. Oh, and, of course, I used the flax seed egg substitute and whole wheat flour. Even with all of the changes/substitutions, it's still one of our favorite meals.

Cornbread

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 1/2 C cornmeal
• 3 T sugar
• 1 1/2 T baking powder
• 3/4 t salt
• 3 eggs
o or 3 T flax seed, ground whisked with 9 T water,
• 1 1/2 C milk or water
• 1/3 C oil

1. Stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, & salt.
2. In separate bowl beat eggs, milk & oil together.
3. Add to flour mixture.
4. Stir just until smooth.

(What I use for cornmeal is actually labeled “Turkish Semolina.” We have wheat semolina here, too, and the Turkish not labeled as corn, but it tastes like it in cornbread, so you might find some variation of that elsewhere.)

No comments: