It was so thrilling to make this dish. I got home last night ready to make this meal thinking it wasn't going to be one of my repeats, you know the dishes that become a main stay in your house. Hello Dolly, this one is staying. So... So... GOODO! This is one of those recipes I look at and say, that looks to hard and to time consuming to make. Hot Damn it was good and easy to make, it's even better as left overs! It actually will serve up to 6 people or 4 fat people (my family).
I got home and cleaned up the kitchen so this time unlike last I would have a clean slate to work on. Last time I think I had Dexter's butt paste still sitting on the island. LOL! I started the clock with prep time this time. There were several things I had not worked with before, like the polenta and jalapeno's (I've handled the ones on nachos). I changed the recipe a bit to fit my style of taste, an example would be chopping the jalapeno instead of making thin slices. I can't imagine taking a big O' bite and getting several of those slices in one bite and dying from the heat. Early bathroom break, am I right, don't lie. So the prep time took me around 20 minutes, like on TV.
Note: To the left you will see that I'm using a chopper. I didn't think that I would have used this that much when I got this but I have whipped this sucker out every time I cook now. Big time, time saver! Chops nuts, veggies, fruit, and cheeses, you can do it to! Don't be scared to chop some air.
This particular model is from Pampered Chef. Yes Shaun I'm so glad you made me go to the party, oh thanks for buying it for me, and notice the RR knife and scissors I was using as well.
Its cooking time! 20 minutes later with my son looking on in his learning tower, I think the kids going to be a cook. When I started this process the recipe calls for a skillet that cooks from stove top to oven and for some reason I had none. I ended up putting a casserole dish in the oven to heat it up, so I could transfer the final dish to the oven in a hot dish. It seemed to work fine but I think I realize now I need some new dishes.This time I had to cook in a pot and skillet all at once so I had to call on Evan to help out here and there. Dexter my Sous-chef was not available for helping just commentary. To the left you will see the main nectar of the pie, using pork, beef, some bacon, and veggies. Basically this part was the meat of the tamale tasting like the heart of a tamale dinner you would get a restaurant. So Yummy! The polenta was easier than I thought and just added icing to the dish. It's a sweet mexican style grit that I found with the cornmeal and of course the old school country grits at the store.
Calling on my hubby who seemed excited to help out, actually I think he called me Rachel? Hmmm.... I'll have to talk to him about that later. Anyway, with the meat mixture on bottom, we poured the polenta over top. This was only 1 and 1/2 cups of polenta and it covered an entire 9x13 dish at about 1" thick. It made a great tasting tamale cover to the meat. Now the one thing I should have done in the long run was to drain some of the grease from the meat before adding the final tomato sauce to it, but it didn't make that big of a deal in the end.As you can see from the picture, the dish turned out TV perfect even with my unscheduled changes to the program. Gotta use what you have. It took 20 minutes to finalize the dish, so all in all it took around an hour to make. So worth it! Like my husband mistress says: You always have time to make a GREAT meal!
From Evan: "I'm not a big fan of tamales, but I LOVED this! It was wonderful!"
Dex my Sous-chef, in his learning tower helping mommy.
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