Experimental Casserole: Southwestern Shepherd's Pie

I often get ideas for dinners by scanning the recipe books I've collected over the years. I usually end up not making what is actually in the recipe that catches my eye, but something based on it. The recipe in the book called for making the meat mixture and putting cornmeal breadsticks in decorative spokes. I didn't have cornmeal breadsticks, so instead I just made cornbread and baked on top. I'm sure it's been done many times before, but it's new to me. ;-)

1/2 large onion

1 or 2 cloves garlic

1 lb ground beef

15oz can kidney beans

15oz can diced tomatoes

8oz can corn

4oz can green chilies

chili and cumin to taste

Preheat oven to 425°. 

In an oven proof frying pan, sautee the onions and garlic then brown the meat. When the meat is cooked, add the remaining ingredients and simmer to reduce out the liquid while preparing the cornbread.

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

4 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

1 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients well then stir in the liquids to form a batter. Spread the batter across the top of the mixture in the frying pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cornbread is set and lightly browned.

It ended up pretty good, though I realized after I was done that I should have added some cheddar cheese, either directly in the cornbread mix or between the meat mixture and the cornbread.  I also need to up my spices(1) next time, but overall we enjoyed it.

I intended to take a picture of the final result, which actually looked quite nice when it came out of the oven. Unfortunately my proclivity for cleaning the kitchen right away kicked in, and I didn't think about it again until I sat down to write this up. Next time!

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(1) The "to taste" in the recipe is a result of me just doing my usual "that looks right"; unfortunately I didn't account for the cornbread being such a strong sweet flavor and covering up the spices quite a bit.