Tasting Tuesday: Mexican Shepherds Pie

Hi, friends,

It’s still cold in Indiana, so I’m still making warm comfort food and trying to use up ingredients around the house to avoid doing a large grocery shopping. I sent Husband out for a “maintenance” grocery shopping last night to pick up some staples like milk, eggs, and butter and he came home with $24 of crab cakes and $10 of gourmet hotdogs with no buns, but hey, at least I didn’t have to go to the store. (Now I just have to figure out what to serve with crab cakes, lol.)

I know I shared a recipe with cornmeal last week, but I still have some in my pantry and found this Mexican Shepherds Pie recipe from Genius Kitchen. Husband LOVES any version of Shepherds Pie, so I used my Tuesday special ground beef from The Fresh Market and my leftover frozen corn and tomato sauce and whipped up this cozy dish. It was incredibly easy and we had leftovers for days. It’s not the prettiest dish, but it is warm and filling and perfect for winter. Please wash your hands after chopping the jalapeño, though, to avoid an unfortunate eye incident like we had at the bungalow (poor Husband!).

Enjoy!

Mexican Shepherds Pie with Cornmeal Buttermilk Topping

Here’s what you need:

For the Topping:

• 2 eggs
• ¹⁄₂cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¹⁄₄teaspoon salt
• ³⁄₄cup cornmeal
  

For the Filling:

• 1 ¹⁄₂lbs ground beef
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup green bell peppers or 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced (optional)
• 1(15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 -2 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
• ¹⁄₂teaspoon salt
• ¹⁄₂teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup corn

And here’s what you do:

1. For the topping, beat together eggs, buttermilk and butter. Whisk in the dry ingredients until smooth and set aside.
2. Brown ground beef with the onions and peppers. Drain off fat and return to the pan.
3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
4. Pour into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch baking dish and level off the top.
5. Spread cornmeal topping over the meat.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until topping is slightly brown.
7. Cool for 5 minutes and serve! Feel free to top with anything you have around the house, like sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, avocado, etc.