Robert Cobert's (Elena's) Easy Tamale Pie

from the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook

Not only are we curious to know what actors like to eat, but artists and musicians are fascinating people who are often good cooks and love to eat.  This was the case when I turned to composer Robert Cobert's contribution to the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook.  One of his favorites is Elena's Easy Tamale Pie which turned out to be interesting to prepare and even more delicious to eat than you might expect.  I was familiar with tamale pie recipes from sources as far back as the early 1950's but this one was just a bit different in the way all the liquid ingredients were all mixed together.  Chopped onion and ground beef are browned in a skillet, transferred to a baking dish, and then a mixture of crushed tomatoes and cream-style corn is added.  Plenty of Monterey Jack cheese and ripe olives form the top layer.  Baked for half an hour it comes bubbling to the table, full of an almost bottomless range of lush flavors and textures, almost like a tamale only much richer and better.  And believe it or not, the 8 inch baking dish serves 6 to 8  generously.  I'm guessing the origin of this very nice recipe comes from famous cookbook author and restauranteur, Elena Zelayeta who was blind and noted for her very fine Mexican recipes.  Her books were well known in the 1960's and 70's in California and new York and her tamale pie recipe is very like Mr. Cobert's which is an interesting connection.  Being a musician myself, I decided to improvise a little and I included a handful of sliced jalapeño peppers to the cheese topping (which I shredded rather than sliced as called for in the recipe) and I thought Mr. Cobert would not object to these slight alterations.  I found that I could have increased the amount of chili powder, so you can adjust the seasonings and some of the ingredients to your taste which is part of the creative enjoyment  when you're in the kitchen.  This dis is great for a party and a pleasure to eat.