If you're on the home stretch of turkey leftovers, here's a great way to go out with a bang: this recipe for Mary Pat's famous Tamale Pie [1]. An authentic taste of childhood, this sassy south of the border comfort food is a Sullivan family classic.
This Thanksgiving we celebrated with my youngest brother, Brendan, and his brood. We've kind of got a non-traditional version of Thanksgiving going; one year we had grilled pizza; this time around my nieces and nephews felt a festive Mexican Thanksgiving fiesta was in order. So our main course was Mary Pat's Tamale Pie made with roast turkey breast instead of the standard ground beef.
About the photo: the black spots on the left side are black olives, we used green pimento-stuffed slices on the other half. The green blobs are La Victoria salsa which do bear an unfortunate resemblance to slugs. Oh well. .
[2]A lot of the fun was with our nieces Clare and Allie who were eager to learn the secrets of one of Grandma Mary Pat's storied specialties.
I am not tossing "storied" around lightly – here is the St. Louis Post Dispatch's article on my mom's cooking:
COOKS CREATIONS ARE POPULAR AT HOME AND THE OFFICE (November 2, 1998)
When Mary Pat Sullivan brings food to her office to share, her co-workers call her concoctions treats. Sullivan, on the other hand, tends to call them … leftovers.
That description has a few flaws, however. Perhaps the crockpot full of homemade turkey vegetable soup that she brought to work one cold day last winter qualified as leftovers, but what about the loaves of homemade bread she brought along with it? And what about the two kinds of Irish soda bread she brought on St. Patrick's Day? Or the ice cream maker full of fruit smoothies meant to ease the task of cleaning out a basement full of old files?
Ann Robison is the co-worker who nominated Sullivan for the title of Best Office Cook. She made it clear in her letter that when it comes to cooks, Sullivan is a winner.
Her husband agrees that she deserves it. "She's one heck of a cook," said Dan Sullivan.
Mary Pat Sullivan credits Dan with introducing her to a "world of wonderful new tastes and flavors. My mother was a very good cook, but she didn't explore much," Sullivan said.
Nor did her mother teach her anything about cooking. Sullivan had to learn that on her own after she got married 42 years ago.
Entertaining has made cooking even more fun for Sullivan. Although she doesn't do it as much as she used to, she still loves to cook for company, boldly serving her guests dishes she has never tried before.
She also still cooks as if her five sons were still youngsters and still dining nightly in her Kirkwood dining room. That, she said, explains all the leftovers she takes to her co-workers.
She spends some of her spare time in her garden, which produces a variety of herbs. What she can't use fresh, she dries and stores for later. The book club she belongs to provides an occasional excuse to entertain. When it's her turn to play hostess, she tries to build a meal around an appropriate literary theme.
With her love of reading and cooking, she surprises no one when she says cookbooks rank high on her list of reading materials. Her current favorite is "The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook." She also has nine loose-leaf folders filled with recipes from newspapers and magazines.
Little wonder she had trouble deciding which recipe to share today. The first part – opting for a family favorite – she settled on fairly quickly. After that she started weighing everything from pumpkin bread and jambalaya muffins to Irish colcannon and homemade pizza.
Then she took a mental trip to Mexico and remembered the following tamale pie recipe. She got the original version from "Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking," by Elena Zelayeta, which her husband brought back from a business trip to Mexico. [Dad brought us back mariachi marionettes!]
"I served this a lot when the five boys were at home, and it was one casserole everyone liked," Sullivan said.
Another point in its favor: "It can be mixed and cooked in the same pot." This, of course, cuts down on cleanup – which for Sullivan translates as more time to cook.
This recipe has been tested by the Post Dispatch.
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EASY TAMALE PIE from Mary Pat Sullivan, Kirkwood
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef, approximately [or @ 1 lb. finely chopped cooked turkey breast]
1 16-oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups cream-style corn (see note)
1 cup milk
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, cut into chunks or shredded (2 cups)
Salsa or picante sauce (see note)
Heat oil in skillet; cook onion until soft. Add beef, cook until lightly browned. Drain fat. [Or add turkey once onion is soft and cook just until heated through.]
Stir in canned tomatoes with their juice, corn, milk, cornmeal, salt and chili powder; mix well. Add olives; sprinkle cheese over top. Cover and cook over low heat about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with salsa.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings.
Note: In place of the cream-style corn, you can use whole-kernel corn that has been chopped in a blender.
Sullivan serves this dish with La Victoria Green Sauce, "a piquant, taco-type sauce not too hot but has a very nice flavor." However, she added, it can be difficult to find here. Her sons on the East and West coasts keep her supplied.