Special gourmet tamale pie

Meat mixture
2 tablespoon oil
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 pound ground beef
3 tablespoons tomato paste
½ pound tomato sauce
3/4 pound corn kernels
2 teaspoons dark cocoa powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cornmeal
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoons Tabasco
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sliced Spanish olives (optional)

Cornmeal topping
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoon s butter, melted
1 – 1 ¼ cup milk
1 egg
4 – 6 oz Jalapenos chopped
1 cup grated cheese
½ cup cheese for the top

Saute the onions with the green pepper in the oil to soften them, then add the ground beef. Stir it at medium heat, making sure that the meat doesn't cump up, until it is no longer pink. Mix in the tomato paste and sauce with all the seasonings and let it simmer on low, covered, for about half an hour.

Prepare the cornmeal topping by mixing everything together in a bowl.

Spread the meat mix in a deep baking dish, carefully dot the cornmeal mix on top, then smooth it over the meat. Finally sprinkle the extra cheese over it. Bake it at 400F for 10 minutes, the reduce the heat to 350F and bake it for another 40 minutes.

Festive meatloaf

I had guests this weekend, but I did not feel like creating something labour intensive. Yet, I wanted "visual appeal". Plus I only had ground turkey at home and it needed to be used up. So I looked around for inspiration on the net, in Images, for a nice meatloaf. The resulting creation looked like this:




Ingredients:
3 lbs ground meat (any kind)
1 1/2 cup soft breadcrumbs
3 eggs
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (or Maggi)
a 4 oz chunk sharp Cheddar, grated
1 cup or more of chopped parsley or spinach
tomato paste
salt pepper, paprika, cinnamon
bacon slices (optional)

Mix together the first five ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste, then take off one third of the mix. To this smaller amount add a pinch of cinnamon, some mild paprika and tomato paste until you like the resulting colour.

Now spread the larger amount of meat onto a square of plastic wrap, carefully arranging so the width would fit the loaf pan. Now spread the steamed and ground spinach (or chopped parsley) on top of the meat, then sprinkle the cheese over it. Finally carefully spread the red meat on top, not quite all the way to the edge on the long side so you can roll it up nicely.

Transfer the roll into the pan and, if you have bacon, cover the top of the loaf with the slices. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake it at 350F for half an hour. Then remove the foil, return the loaf to the oven and bake until the bacon on the top is nice and crisp.

Serve it with celery-lemon rice. I also offered steamed snow peas, pickles and a tomato salad to go with it.