Turkey Black Bean Tamale Pie

We didn't host Thanksgiving this year so I had only a limited amount of leftovers. I decided to use my precious turkey on this recipe by Rick Rodgers, a cookbook author and frequent contributer to Fine Cooking magazine. This is his recipe for Turkey Tamale Pie. I have no former experience with Tamale Pie, so I can't compare it to others. But this was delicious. (Jeanette, if you're visiting, I was thinking of you and Mark the whole time I was making this.) You make a sauce with jalapenos, onions, garlic, tomato sauce and chili powder (I added some some cumin, ground coriander seed, cayenne and chipotle powder to our sauce to spice things up a bit more.) And then you mix in some chopped turkey meat, black beans and corn.

This is all heaped into a baking dish and covered with a cornmeal crust. Then the whole concoction (dare I call it a casserole?) is baked to bubbly goodness. Did I mention you cover the cornmeal with some shredded sharp cheddar cheese? The cornmeal crust is made from stone ground cornmeal and water - no fat is cut into the dough which makes this recipe reasonably healthy. The only oil you use is to saute the aromatics and there's not a huge amount of cheese. I halved the entire recipe. It fitted nicely in a medium size oval baking dish. This one is about 2 inches deep.