Crunchy Bottomed Taco Pie

This was something I threw together tonight for supper.  I’ve had the traditional taco pie where the cornbread was on top.  I thought about doing that but then I remembered that my favorite part of cornbread is the crunchy bottom.  So a recipe was born.  

The cornbread in this is made the southern way (white cornmeal, no sugar) and is my “recipe” for cornbread.  You could probably do it the “other” or “northern” (or dare I say “Yankee”?) way if you wanted to (a Jiffy mix could probably be used as well).    I’d love to do with my Mother-In-Law’s cornbread (with cheese, onions, jalepenos, and cheese).    

The cornbread part was a bit thick, which I like but you may not.  So you could make less cornbread batter or add more meat.  It was also really cheesy (again, I liked it that way) so if you want to reduce the amount of cheese, you can.    

Cornbread Crust: 

1 ½ cups self-rising white cornmeal 

½ cup all-purpose flour 

¾ cup buttermilk (3/4 cup milk and ½ tablespoon lemon juice, let sit 10 minutes) 

1 large egg 

1-2 tablespoons oil   

Heat the oil in an iron skillet on 400 until skillet is hot (I was bad and used bacon grease).  Mix ingredients together.  Remove skillet from oven, pour hot oil into mixture and stir together quickly.  Pour mixture into skillet.   

Meat topping: 

¾ pound ground beef cooked and drained 

1 packet taco seasoning (for 1 pound meat) water needed as directed on the seasoning packet 

1 ½ cup shredded cheese (I had about ½ cup cheddar and 1 cup Monterey jack)   

Cook meat, seasoning, and water according to directions on packet.  You can add some onions and whatever other veggies you want to (I just didn’t have time to do this).   Sprinkle seasoned meat on top of cornbread mixture.  Sprinkle cheese over meat.    Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until cornbread is done and bottom is nicely browned.