5 Layer Santa Fe Beef Frito Pie

By Cathy Barrow, Special to The Washington Post

Scissor open a snack-size bag of corn chips, spoon in chili, cheese and sour cream and you have a walking taco, a.grand.a. Frito Pie. The birthplace of this personal meal in a bag is unclear —  perhaps Mexico, Texas or even a Santa Fe five-and-dime luncheon counter. Regardless, Frito Pie has become part of America'due south culinary vernacular. Quite just, this is a joyous food delivery system.

I've eaten my share of Frito Pies, and while I struggle to achieve the right ratio of chips to chili, I'll never plough one down. Nonetheless, nothing else had satisfied like that delightful combination of crunch, spicy heat and sweet corn —  until I began to dream of a blistering sheet filled with those tastes.

My Tex Mex Frito Slab Pie starts with a delicate crust of corn breadstuff and layers on chipotle-laced chili, plenty of sharp cheese and crushed Fritos Corn Fries. This is a family unit-friendly meal fit for a potluck, a neighborhood gathering or an after-soccer get-together. Information technology's economical and easy to serve as well. Information technology takes less than an hr to gather the ingredients (many of which may exist on your pantry shelves already), preheat the oven, brand the chili topping, stir together the corn bread, assemble and broil.

While it's not a circuitous recipe, information technology does involve some keys to success. Utilise a sturdy blistering sheet, the type with sides. I tried making this pie in a disposable aluminum foil pan. Disaster; this is a heavy pie. On another occasion, I doubled up on the foil pans, but then the corn bread didn't crisp up.

Chili is the most flavor-packed component in this mix, so it needs to be well seasoned —  to the very edge of over-seasoned, in fact. The corn bread crust mellows the pie's overall gustatory modality, as does the cheesy layer, so that's why you demand an assertive chili here. So get spicier and but slightly more salty, remembering that this pie is topped with a rug of crushed chips.

Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix substitutes for homemade corn bread without a bit of shame. It takes two 8.5-ounce boxes' worth to cover the baking sheet, but when pouring the batter into the pan, leave a little back in the mixing bowl or gamble an flood and abundant corn-bread chaff.

Set out this pie with suitable toppings such as salsa, pickled jalapeño, cubes of avocado, diced carmine onion, lime wedges, sour foam and a favorite hot sauce. Serve a crisp, crunchy salad on the side.

This is as well an easygoing recipe, substitution-wise. I regularly use basis turkey instead of the beef-pork combo, and turn to pinto beans for a vegetarian option. Toss a handful of pickled jalapeños in with the grated cheese. Try nacho-flavored fries instead of apparently corn fries. Add frozen corn kernels to the chaff batter. A layer of roasted poblanos tin can be snuggled between the chili and the cheese.

Take fun with my take on Frito Pie, whether you're walking or sitting downwards.

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Tex Mex Frito Slab Pie

24 servings

This savory slab pie filled with familiar flavors hits the spot. The crust is made with a box of Jiffy Corn Bread mix, but feel costless to employ the recipe for Plain Deliciously Corn Breadstuff (come across related recipe) or your favorite corn bread recipe instead.

You'll need a rimmed blistering sheet or jellyroll pan that measures 13 by 18 inches. The recipe tin be halved; in that case, you'll need a ix-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet.

While this is a very kid-friendly pie, the adobo tin carry serious oestrus, so be confident just judicious nearly how much you use, depending on the crowd. If it's a group that likes spicy, include not just the tangy sauce, just a canned chipotle, minced.

Serve with a crunchy lettuce and sliced radishes.

MAKE Ahead: This recipe may exist baked before in the day, refrigerated and then reheated to serve. Starting with a room-temperature pie, encompass with aluminum foil and warm in a 350-caste oven for 12 to 15 minutes. The chili tin be refrigerated for upward to 3 days in advance, or frozen for upwards to a month. Defrost before using.

From Bring Information technology! columnist and cookbook author Cathy Barrow.

Ingredients

For the chili

1/ii loving cup chopped smoky bacon or pancetta

2 medium onions, diced

1 pound lean ground pork

1 pound lean footing beef, preferably ground chuck

1 cup water

4 tablespoons tomato paste

11/two tablespoons sauce from canned chiles in adobo (encounter headnote)

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder

11/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon Castilian smoked paprika (pimenton)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

i/4 teaspoon footing cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped scallions (white and low-cal-greenish parts)

ane/4 cup packed cilantro leaves, chopped

For the crust

Softened unsalted butter, for the pan

Two viii.5-ounce boxes Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (see headnote)

ii large eggs

2/three cup regular or low-fat milk

2 cups (8 ounces) Monterey Jack or sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

One 9.5-ounce purse regular Fritos, crushed

For serving

Chopped cilantro, for garnish

Sour cream or Mexican crema

Jalapeño slices, fresh or pickled

Hot sauce

Steps

For the filling: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

For the chili: Cook the chopped bacon in a large, directly-sided skillet over medium rut until information technology is just crisp. Add the onions and cook until translucent, so add the ground pork and beef, breaking it up with two forks. Cook until no pink remains in the meat, about 6 minutes, then pour off and discard near of the accumulated fat.

Add the water, tomato paste, adobo sauce, ancho chili powder, salt, paprika, cumin and cinnamon. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a eddy, so reduce the oestrus to low and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cilantro; remove the pan from the oestrus. Allow the mixture cool while making the corn bread concoction.

For the crust: Brush the rimmed baking sheet with butter, especially in the corners and up the sides.

Set up the corn muffin mixes with the eggs and milk according to the package directions, stirring with a fork until simply combined in a mixing bowl. Lumps are okay.

Pour the concoction into the baking sail or jellyroll pan, using an offset spatula to spread it evenly into the corners. Besprinkle the chili filling evenly beyond the cornmeal batter, cover with the grated cheese and and then height with the crushed Fritos. Don't worry too much; it'due south all going to come together.

Bake (center rack) for 22 to 24 minutes, until the corn bread is pulling away from the corners and the Fritos are gilded brown. If it looks like the crust volition bubble over the edges, place a large sheet of aluminum foil or another baking sheet on the rack underneath.

Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Set out the chopped cilantro, sour cream or Mexican crema, jalapeños and hot sauce for serving.

Ingredients are likewise variable for a meaningful analysis.

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Obviously Delicious Corn Bread

10 to 12 servings

Goran Kosanovic, The Washington Postal service

Plainly Succulent Corn Staff of life.

This elementary corn bread is quick to mix up and comes fast to the table. Use stone-ground cornmeal, which provides the heartiest corn season. The recipe makes a fine crust for Tex Mex Frito Slab Pie (encounter related recipe).

The corn bread develops a nice crust when yous bake it in a cast-iron skillet, simply you can use a 9-past-9-inch baking pan instead (without the preheating stride). It's best when served the same twenty-four hour period it's made.

For mix-ins, consider calculation frozen or canned corn kernels, thoroughly drained, crumbled well-baked bacon and/or a few slices of fresh or pickled jalapeño.

From Bring It! columnist and cookbook author Cathy Barrow.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 one/2 cups stone-ground cornmeal

ane tablespoon blistering powder

2 teaspoons blistering soda

2 teaspoons kosher salt

11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 cups regular or low-fat buttermilk

4 large eggs, browbeaten

Steps

Place a 9- or ten-inch cast-iron skillet on the heart oven rack; preheat to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, whisk the flour and cornmeal with the baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk together x tablespoons of the melted butter, the buttermilk and eggs in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, using a tabular array fork to contain just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Lumps are okay.

Once the pan is quite hot, use the remaining i tablespoon of melted butter to brush the inside of the pan, including up the sides. Cascade the batter into the hot pan, slide information technology in the oven and bake for 22 to 25 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the corn bread comes out clean.

Permit sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition | Per serving (based on 12, using low-fat buttermilk): 240 calories, 7 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates, xiii chiliad fat, 8 thousand saturated fat, ninety mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium, 2 g dietary cobweb, 2 thousand sugar
Cathy Barrow is author of "Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry" (W.West. Norton, 2014). She blogs at mrswheelbarrow.com.

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Source: https://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/28/frito-pie-cornbread-recipes/

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