This week’s Doris Project comes to us in the form of a hand-written recipe for Mexican Fiesta Pie from 1983. The author spiced things up a bit from the recipe I found on Cooks.com by using jalapeño Cheez Whiz in place of plain; I had a few other ideas…
I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef, and made my own (and nicely spiced) cheese sauce/spread/blend in a few minutes with a food processor and ‘wave.
But, more on that later…
Back to the pie!
INGREDIENTS
•1/2 lb ground beef turkey
•1/2 cup diced green pepper
•1 cup diced onion
•2 tbsp hot green chiles (from a 4 oz. can)
•1 (8 oz.) jar Cheez Whiz w/jalapeñoes
•1-1/2 tsp chili powder
•1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato
•2 eggs, beaten
•3/4 cup flour
•1/2 tsp salt
•1/3 cup milk
•1 tbsp cornmeal
Heat the oven to 400º and lightly grease a nine inch pie or quiche plate.
Warm a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, then add the ground turkey, onion, green pepper, and chiles.
Sauté until the turkey is cooked through, the veggies are tender, and any liquid has been cooked off.
Reduce the heat to low, then add 1/2 of the Cheez Whiz and chili powder and stir until combined and the cheese (cheez?) has melted.
Stir in the tomatoes and remove from heat.
Make the batter by beating the eggs together with the flour, salt, milk, and remaining half of the Cheez Whiz until smooth – I’d already messed up my food processor making my cheese whizzz, so I just used that instead of dirtying another bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared quiche dish or pie plate and sprinkle with the corn meal.
Top with the ground meat mixture, leaving about an inch all around the edge.
Bake in the hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes, then remove and allow to rest for five minutes or so before serving.
We had ours with some chopped romaine, Persian cucumbers, onion, and tomato – me with it as a side salad topped with Honey Mustard Dressing and Rich with it on top of the pie with taco sauce and sour cream. Both ways were nice.
“But, wait!” you say.
“What about the Whiz?”
Yeh.
This nicely spiced, easily home made cheese sauce/spread/blend is just way too good to tack onto the end of another recipe post; so hold your horses and check out all the details, tomorrow.
Trust me, it’s worth the wait.