Vegetable Tamale Pies take 2 {Annah}

If you remember Colleen posted this recipe for Vegetable Tamale Pies a few months ago. After planning to make this for a couple months and throwing away about 3 bunches of cilantro I finally made the dish! Sadly I think this was the first and last time I will be make this recipe.

If planned ahead and done in multiple steps this might not have been so horrible. Lets start with the beans. I took Colleen's suggestion and I bought dried pinto beans. I have cooked dried garbanzo beans, and they were simple and cooked easily. I must have been off my game because after 3 hours of simmering on the stove the pinto beans were still not cooked! Needless to say I pulled the beans off the stove too soon (it was 9 pm at this point), and beans had a crunch to them.

Next was the making of the polenta. Now this was not a hard task boil water and put corn meal in it. I forgot about the water boiling, so when I remembered it was at a rolling boil. I whisked in the corn meal and within a minute it started to bubble and burp all over the place. It was all over the stove which was bad, but then the scolding hot mess was getting on my hands. Let me tell you boiling corn meal burns bad when it touches the skin. Now you might be thinking why did she not turn the stove down, well I did, but it was so hot that even at a simmer it was burping enough to get on my hands. For the next 20 minutes I wore an oven mitt on my hand while I whisked the stupid polenta!

I assembled and was so mad at the recipe that I did not cook it in the oven for about 6 days. Once it was baked up and we tried it we were not impressed. Yes it was a change from enchiladas that I make, but the flavors were not causing fireworks in my mouth. I will admit I was holding a grudge so this had to be melt in your mouth good for me to forget the 4 hours of prep time.

I challenge all of you to make this recipe and prove me wrong and side with Colleen, because it sounds like her family absolutely loves this dish. I did say I am looking for guest post. Be gutsy enough to make this recipe so we can do our first ever "Take 3"!

I am going to add the directions for making the polenta to this post so you do not have to go looking for it.

 

Basic Polenta
 
Inspired by Jack Bishop in The Complete 
Italian Vegetarian Cookbook
About 4 servings

What You Need

One cup corn meal
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper

1  Bring four cups water to boil in a medium sauce pan. When the water boils, whisk in the one cup corn meal in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Continue whisking until the polenta begins to thicken (around 1 to 2 minutes). Add around 1 tsp salt.
2  Reduce the heat so that the polenta bubbles slowly. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until the cornmeal loses its raw flavor (taste every so often to check).
3  When the polenta is complete, turn off the heat and add 1 to 2 tbsp butter and more salt and pepper. You can cover it to keep it warm before serving. If the polenta becomes too thick, you can stir in a bit of milk or water to loosen it up.

*Alternative: For even more flavor, you can stir in some cheese with the butter in Step 3. For example, add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, or both 1/2 cup Parmesan and 1/2 cup ricotta.