Leftover Pork, Part 3

Over the last few years, during Andy’s lay-off time, I have not posted a lot of the dinners and such that we eat around here.  Quite honestly, much of it I wouldn’t consider “blog-worthy”, meaning it doesn’t take a great photograph, or there’s just nothing truly special about it.  There’s also the added problem that much of it is simply tossed together randomly, so there’s no real recipe.  But in today’s economic climate, there are so many people looking for budget friendly ideas and recipes, that I thought it would be worth at least trying to get some of the everyday food down on paper.  And truly, this is how my family eats this time of year.  I make something, like a pork roast, and then I try to use as much of it in different ways as possible.   This was the third meal we had off the one roast, and I still had pork leftover.  Pork three times in one week was more than enough though, so I took the last bit and popped it in the freezer to be used another time.

I also should be up-front with today’s incarnation and just say that my kids did not like this one at all.  I suspected they wouldn’t, but I still had hopes that  they would give it a shot.  Um, no, not so much, but Andy and I both really enjoyed it, and it will definitely be made again.

Tamale Pie.  I’ve never made one.  The basic premise is a chili of some sorts, put in a baking pan, and then topped with a cornbread topping.  Then the whole thing is baked, and you have a sort of pot pie.  I love pot pies myself, and all incarnations of them, so it is actually a bit of a surprise that I’ve never tried a tamale variation.  A quick internet search for recipes turned up plenty, but none that used pork of all things.  So I rolled the idea around in my head for a bit and determined, first of all, that if I was going to make chili with pork, it had to be a green chili- or Chile Verde.  We haven’t had that in years, but I do remember that Andy and I both loved the green chili I made once upon a time.   A search online again brought up a handful of recipes, and reading through them, I discovered I didn’t have a lot of the requisite ingredients.  A trip to the kitchen annex rewarded me with the one shortcut item that made this dinner completely possible- a jar of homemade tomatillo salsa.

I thought it would work perfectly, and I was correct on that.  First though, I had to get some beans cooking.  I took a few handfuls of dried Great Northern beans and got them simmering on the stove earlier in the day.  All told, I ended up with about three cups of white beans, which would be what you find in a large can of beans.   Then, it was on to the chili.  Half an onion went into my pot to sweat with some olive oil.  A few minutes later, I dropped in about three cups of shredded, chopped pork.  Following that, I added my half-pint jar of tomatillo salsa, as well as two cups of chicken stock.  I let that simmer a bit, tasted, and then added 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, pinch of salt, and my cooked, drained beans.   The chili tasted perfect just like that, so I took it off the heat and set it aside, and meanwhile, I turned on the oven.

I whipped together one batch of Cornbread, using my standard recipe.  Then I grabbed an 11 x 7 baking dish, sprayed it with cooking spray, and ladled in most of my chili so it filled the pan halfway up.  Then I took a spoon and dolloped the cornbread mixture over the chili so that it didn’t quite go all the way to the edges.  All told, I used 3/4 of the batch of cornbread mixture, and made mini muffins with the remainder.   The whole dish went into a 425ºF oven for 20 minutes.  I pulled it out then and sprinkled a cheddar cheese blend over the top of the cornbread, and put it back in the oven for an extra five minutes.  Dinner was ready, I served it up with a drizzle of plain yogurt, since I’m all out of sour cream. In all honesty though, it didn’t need the drizzle, because the Chili Verde Tamale Pie worked perfectly just the way it was.

It really was delicious, and while the kids wouldn’t even touch it, I’ll definitely be making this again.  It’s also a great candidate for making individual portions in ramekins, and I happen to think it’s also good enough for company.   I should also note that I made this in an 11 x 7 and I had both chili and cornbread leftover.  If you made it in a 9 x 13 pan, you could use all the chili and all the cornbread mixture, plus it would serve an army, instead of just a family of four with leftovers. The recipe below is for the 9 x 13 pan. Alternatively, you could divide it between two pans and freeze one for later use. (I think.) Oh, I should also add that I think this would be equally delicious with leftover chicken or turkey. And by all means, use a store-bought green salsa, I just happen to make my own, so I have it on hand.

Chili Verde Tamale Pie

drizzle of olive oil

1/2 an onion, diced

3 or 4 cups cooked, chopped pork

1 cup tomatillo salsa

2 cups chicken stock or broth

3 cups Great Northern Beans (drained and rinsed if canned)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1 recipe of corn muffin batter

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425ºF and spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

Set a pot on the stove over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and onion and cook for about five minutes, or until the onion is tender and translucent.  Add the pork and cook for another two minutes or so.  Add the salsa and chicken broth and bring just to a boil.  Turn the heat down to a simmer, and then add the beans, cumin, and additional salt and pepper if desired.  Take the chili off the heat and set aside while mixing together the corn muffin batter.

Pour the chili into the prepared baking dish.  It should go up no more than 3/4 of the way up the pan.  If it does, take a bit of it out and set aside for another use.  Top the chili with the corn muffin batter- if all the batter won’t fit in the pan, don’t use it all either.

Set the baking pan on a larger baking sheet to catch any drips, and pop into the 425ºF oven.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle the top with the cheddar cheese, and put back into the oven for another five minutes.  Check the corn bread with a toothpick to see that it’s cooked through.  If it’s not done, give it another five minutes at a time until dooked through and lightly browned around the edges.

Serves 12.