Video:Tamale Ranch Beef Casserole Recipe

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Transcript:Tamale Ranch Beef Casserole Recipe

An easy alternative to your daily dinner routine is tamale ranch beef casserole. Hi, Abby Feldman here for About.com, and today we're going to show you some tips for how to make this very filling and festive dish. Tamale ranch beef casserole is a unique Southern-style comfort food that is a tasty, fast meal with a great tamale flavor -- without all the time it takes to make actual tamales. And it freezes well, too, so you can enjoy it for lunch the next day as well. Let's get started.

Tamale Ranch Beef Casserole Ingredients

The ingredients you'll need for tamale ranch beef casserole are:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup water
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 pound of lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes or about 1/4 cup of chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 1-1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Prepare Cornmeal Layer

To start, let's preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While that's warming up, let's make the cornmeal layer. In a medium saucepan, mix together the cornmeal, 1 cup of water, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. After a few minutes, reduce the heat. Then cook it, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened. This generally takes about five minutes. Once it's done, pour it into a greased 13-by-9-by-2 inch pan and chill it in the fridge.

Cook Beef for Casserole

Next, in a large skillet, cook your bacon until crispy. Line a plate with a paper towel and drain the grease, then crumble it into pieces. Set it aside. More on this later. Take the skillet drippings from the pan, but keep 1 tablespoon of it in there. Now, add your ground beef with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and the parsley. Cook the ground beef until it is brown, making sure the seasoning tops it evenly. When it's done, set it aside and drain off the extra grease, leaving about a tablespoon. Add the onions, celery, and garlic to the pan drippings and sauté until tender. Then, stir in your can of tomatoes and the last 1/2 teaspoon of salt. You can add jalapeno peppers or green chilies if you want to give the recipe a little kick.

Assemble Tamale Ranch Beef Casserole

Remember that cornmeal mixture that's chilling in the fridge? Take it out and turn the pan upside down on to a cutting board to remove it in one piece. Cut it into inch and a half squares. Take ten of these and set them aside for the top of the casserole. Take the rest and place them in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Now it's time to spoon in the meat mixture. So, make a layer of half-ground beef, half-crumbled bacon with a drizzle of sauce over the top of it all. Next, make a second layer of cornmeal cubes, ground beef, sauce, and bacon.

Bake the Tamale Ranch Beef Casserole

Take those ten cornmeal cubes you saved and arrange them around the edge of the casserole dish. Once you're satisfied, sprinkle the top with cheese and bake uncovered in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Once it's done, take it out of the oven. This recipe feeds six and will give your family a new way to enjoy tamales on Mexican food night. It goes great with salsa and a side of Spanish rice. We hope this tamale ranch beef recipe helps you make a festive Mexican food dish that your family will love.

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