Super Easy Taco Pie with Avocado Crema
This is a fantastic—and delicious— way to get a bunch of veggies into to your meal. It’s also gluten-free and can easily be made dairy free. It travels well for picnics and backyard parties, only dirties a few dishes, and is great to make ahead of time, and keep a couple jars on hand in your freezer.
Equipment
- 7, wide mouthed jars
Ingredients
For the Beef Layer
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil EVOO
- 2 cups diced white onion from on large, about 8 ounces
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 3.8 oz can sliced black olives
- 1 4 oz can hot diced green chiles
- 3 cups 12 oz chopped frozen spinach
For the Cornbread Batter
- 1 1/4 cups coarse stone-ground yellow cornmeal
- 1/3 cup sweet white rice flour
- 1/3 cup tapioca starch
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted (or rendered bacon fat for a smoky turn! Yum!)
- 1 egg
For the Avocado Crema
- 1 medium Hass avocado
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon mild jalapeño green tabasco
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- cilantro for garnish if you wish (I NEVER wish), or chopped scallions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Heat a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Add the EVOO, the diced onion, the minced garlic, all the spices, and the meat. Stir frequently to break up the meat and mix in the spices. Once the meat is evenly browned, stir in the fire roasted tomatoes, sliced olives, hatch chiles, and frozen spinach. Place your 14 ounce jam jars or 16 oz wide mouth mason jars on a baking pan (for easy transference into the oven).
- Evenly spoon the meat mixture, splitting it among the jars. Press down to make sure the meat mixture takes up as little room as possible. The jars should be 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Make the Cornbread batter:
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cayenne pepper, baking powder and salt. Add the honey, buttermilk, melted butter or bacon fat and egg and stir together to combine.
- Dividing evenly between the jars, spoon the cornbread batter over the top of the meat mixture and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center just comes out clean, about 20-23 minutes.
- If saving these for later, let the jars cool completely before placing the lid over the top. These freeze extremely well when made in advance (just wait until the last minute to top with the avocado crema and cilantro or scallions). To reheat the jars from frozen, thaw the sealed jars in the refrigerator overnight. From refrigerated, remove any metal lids, if using, and microwave until hot, about 2 minutes.
Make the Avocado Crema:
- You can make the Avocado Crema ahead of time, and simply top the warm cornbread with a dollop of the cold crema at the last minute.
- To make: place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Alternatively, you can mash it in a quart sized zip lock bag and mix until uniform in texture. If you make the crema in a zip lock back, you can also store any unused crema right in the same bag!
- At the last minute, top the warm cornbread taco pies with a dollop of the avocado crema and garnish, and enjoy!
Notes
To make this Taco Pie dairy free, simply replace the butter with rendered bacon fat, and replace the buttermilk with coconut milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice, and omit the sour cream from the avocado crema, or use coconut yogurt in its place.
If you prefer to make it as one big dish, I recommend a 9x11 inch casserole. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1jarCalories: 828kcalCarbohydrates: 66gProtein: 33gFat: 50gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 141mgSodium: 1863mgPotassium: 1106mgFiber: 10gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 8856IUVitamin C: 20mgCalcium: 335mgIron: 7mg
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