This scrumptious cheesy and melty Quick & Easy Burrito Pie is guaranteed to become one of your family’s favorites. It’s everything I love in quick Mexican casserole dishes. Perfectly seasoned and loaded with ground beef, beans, and cheese. You can’t go wrong.
I used 10″ burrito-sized flour tortillas and a 10″ springform pan to build the pie. And you can make it vegetarian by omitting the ground beef and adding black and pinto beans. Or use ground turkey for a healthier meat option.
Serve in pie slices topped with guacamole, sour cream, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, diced onion, sliced jalapenos and/or salsa. Maybe some sliced black olives and sliced green onions? How about some crumbled queso fresco? You know, all the yummy things you’d put on top of a burrito or taco.
Let’s make a burrito pie! Your people will love you. Guaranteed!?
Heat a 10-12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add one Tablespoon olive oil and the ground meat. Brown the meat and drain off fat. Return the meat to the skillet. Add chopped onion and saute until just wilted. Add one thinly sliced (slivered) or diced jalapeno pepper. You can substitute diced green or red bell pepper to make the dish less spicy. Add 1-2 cloves of minced garlic. Continue to saute just until the garlic becomes fragrant – 1 minute or so.
Add one can of petite diced tomatoes liquid and all and one package taco seasoning. Stir and simmer until the mixture is slightly thickened – 2-3 minutes. (I added one corn tortilla sliced into slivers to help thicken things up, but you don’t have to.)
Add one can of drained and rinsed beans – any beans you like – pinto, black, light red kidney beans. (If you’re going vegetarian, I’d use two cans of beans and skip the meat.) Stir and continue to heat through. Remove the meat mixture from the heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together one can cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix together the cheeses. I like using half shredded Mexican quesadilla cheese or Monterey Jack and half shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Let’s put our burrito pie together! Shall we?
I used a 10″ springform pan and 10″ burrito-sized flour tortillas. The springform pan makes for easy assembly and serving once the pie is baked.
If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a high-sided souffle dish or a 10″ pie pan.
Spray the bottom and sides of the pan with vegetable spray. Place a tortilla on the bottom. Top with 1/4 of the mushroom soup/sour cream mixture. Top that with 1/4 of the meat/bean mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the shredded cheese.
Repeat the layers three more times finishing with soup, meat, and cheese.
Place the springform pan on a baking sheet. I line my baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy cleanup.
Bake your burrito pie in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes or until the pie is hot and heated through. Remove pie from the oven onto a cooling rack.
Let it sit for 10 minutes to make it easier to slice.
And there you have it!
Cut into pie-shaped wedges and serve with the toppings you choose.
Once cooled to room temperature, your pie can be frozen then thawed and reheated.
I can’t wait to dig in!
Hot, melty, cheesy, and scrumptious Quick & Easy Burrito Pie. Serve with toppings like guacamole, sour cream, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, diced onion, sliced jalapenos and/or salsa.
Author: Mimi
Recipe type: Main Dish, Quick Dish
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
4 - 10" burrito-sized flour tortillas
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1lb ground beef or turkey
½ - 1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, slivered or diced (May substitute diced green or red bell pepper.)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 15½ oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
1 - 15½ oz can pinto, black or light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup sour cream
3 cups total Mexican quesadilla cheese and sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a 10-12" skillet over medium-high heat add olive oil and ground meat. Brown and drain. Return meat to skillet.
Over medium heat, add onion, Cook until just wilted. Add peppers and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add garlic. Cook until garlic is fragrant - 1-2 minutes.
Add undrained canned tomatoes and taco seasoning. Stir and simmer until slightly thickened.
Add drained and rinsed beans. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes until mixture is thickened and heated through. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine shredded cheeses. Set aside.
Spray a 10" springform pan with cooking spray.
Line the bottom with one tortilla. Top the tortilla with ¼ soup/sour cream mixture. Top that with ¼ meat/bean mixture. Top that with ¼ shredded cheese.
Repeat layers three times ending with shredded cheese.
Place springform pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the pie is bubbling and heated through.
Remove from oven onto a cooling rack and let sit for 10 minutes.
Remove the outer collar of the pan and cut into pie-shaped wedges.
Serve with any variety of toppings: guacamole, sour cream, extra shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced jalapenos or salsa, sliced black olives or green onions.
Notes
Feel free to make your burrito pie vegetarian by omitting the meat and adding another can of drained and rinsed beans. The springform pan makes this easy to assemble and to serve, but you could use a straight-sided souffle dish or a 10" pie pan.
Ultimate comfort food. Perfect fall/winter dish. Kitchen Sink Chili Mac is chocked full of healthy comfort food ingredients. This is a phenomenal recipe for the end of the season vegetables like corn, tomatoes, and peppers. Many of the ingredients are most likely already in your pantry/refrigerator/garden. Don’t be afraid to include different ingredients you have on hand. This would be equally delicious with fresh mushrooms, hot or sweet peppers, or carrots and celery. Prefer ground turkey? Have at it. Ground bison? Why not. Feel free to improvise. There are no hard and fast rules for this stove-top casserole. And it’s quick – 30 to 40 minutes tops.
I add canned pinto beans, well rinsed and drained to remove sodium. Welcome is the added protein and fiber.
Essentially, you could stop at this step without adding macaroni. Ladle into bowls. You might want to include cornbread as a side. Or you could add cooked pasta AND serve cornbread – I mean, this is cold weather comfort food. Or serve in deep bowls over quinoa or cooked brown rice.
Like your chili mac spicy? Add diced jalapenos and serve with hot sauce. Like a milder version? Substitute diced sweet red bell peppers. And what is it about a dish with corn and tomatoes in a one-pot meal? I love the fresh vegetable flavors. Corn adds a nice crunch, too.
I under-cook the pasta for 60-90 seconds. I find that pasta quickly absorbs liquid in the skillet and changes the consistency of my chili mac. Instead of being soupy, it’s more like a stove-top casserole. That’s okay. If you’d like a more mushy pasta, cook it according to the directions for the full cooking time. This is large elbow macaroni from Trader Joe’s. I absolutely love it. Look at the groves in the noodles. Just right to capture flavorful liquid, meat and veggies.
I can’t wait for another steamy, delicious bowlful. Can you?
Let’s make a potful.
Ultimate comfort food. Perfect fall/winter dish. Kitchen Sink Chili Mac is chocked full of healthy comfort food ingredients. This is a phenomenal recipe for the end of the season vegetables like corn, tomatoes, and peppers. Many of the ingredients are most likely already in your pantry/refrigerator/garden. Don't be afraid to include different ingredients you have on hand.
Author: Mimi
Recipe type: Main Dishes, Casseroles
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (85/15), or turkey, or bison
¼ cup olive oil, divided
1 large onion, diced
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, diced or put through a garlic press ( Hint: get a garlic press)
1-2 jalapenos, diced, membrane, and seeds removed for a less spicy dish OR 1 large red bell pepper diced for a milder dish
15 oz canned pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 pound fresh Roma tomatoes or other fresh tomatoes, diced OR 1-15oz cans of petite diced tomatoes
1 cup fresh corn cut from the cob or 1 cup frozen corn
½ - 1 cup beef or chicken stock, or water
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Pinch ground cayenne pepper, if desired
1 cup macaroni, cooked according to manufacturers' directions
Instructions
In a 3-4 quart pan, boil water. Add 1 cup of macaroni or the pasta you prefer. Cook according to package directions. For a firmer pasta, under-cook 60-90 seconds.
Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat.
Add one pound of ground meat: beef, turkey, or bison, and browned until all the pinkness is gone. Remove the meat to drain on a plate covered with a paper toweling or in a fine meshed colander in the sink.
Return the skillet to the stove over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 2 Tablsepoons olive oil, onion and cook until just wilted, 2-3 minutes.
Add peppers to the onions. Either finely diced jalapenos or one diced red bell pepper. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add chili powder and cumin.
Add garlic. Stir and cook until just fragrant.
Add the cooked meat.
Add tomatoes, beans, stock and corn.
Add 1 teaspoonful salt and ½ teaspoonful black pepper.
Simmer until bubbly.
Add macaroni. Stir and continue to cook until the ingredients are heated through.
Check for seasoning.
Divide into deep individual serving bowls. Top with grated Monterrey Jack cheese and serve.
Notes
Kitchen Sink Chili Mac is easy and comes together quickly. You may add diced carrot and/or celery to the vegetables as they saute. Feel free to substitute diced portobello mushrooms for the meat. Instead of pasta, you can serve chili mac over cooked quinoa or brown rice.
Pollo Contadino is an outstanding casserole of Italian comfort food. I’ve made this dish several times over many years. Each time I lift a forkful to my mouth, I wonder why I don’t make it more often. Such an arousing smell of tender, juicy chicken thighs roasted with onions, carrots, sweet red bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, capers, and rosemary served with its juices over a fluffy bed of hot rice.
Yep, Pollo Contadino is a perfect meal for cozy cold weather days. You know those rainy cold days that make you want to curl up under a blanket to get all snuggly and warm? And if you want to smell the casserole cooking all day, put the ingredients in a crockpot and let it simmer until you can’t stand it anymore.
This recipe was published in “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian” in 1993. I bought Jeff Smith’s cookbook a few weeks ago just for this recipe. ($6 used from Amazon). Money well spent. I can’t wait to sift through the pages for other Italian treats.
Here’s how it works
Pollo Contadino takes a little time to put together but is well worth the effort. I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs because we like dark meat and skin helps to keep the meat moist. Drumsticks would be a good substitute. But it can also be made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts if that’s what you prefer. There’s no hard and fast rule.
Don’t leave out any of the vegetables. They all play well together. And be sure to add the capers that add a nice vinegary taste and smell to the finished dish. I can’t imagine the casserole without capers!
The last time I made Pollo Contadino, I didn’t have rosemary in my spice pantry. So, I used a few shakes of pasta sprinkle which is a combination of rosemary, basil, parsley. It worked just fine!
Let’s make some, shall we?
Pollo Contadino, Italian Roasted Chicken Farmer Style
Tender and juicy chicken roasted with onions, carrots, tomatoes, and capers served over a bed of hot fluffy rice. Cibo di comodità - true Italian comfort food.
Author: The Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith
Recipe type: Main Dish
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
4 large chicken thighs, skin-on, bone-in 1-1/2 pounds OR 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and julienned OR use 1 cup of julienned carrots from the store
1 - 2 large sweet red bell peppers, julienned
1 large yellow onion, peeled and julienned
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
6 large baby portobello mushrooms, cut into thick slices OR 1-8oz package of sliced mushrooms from the store
1-2 teaspoons capers
6 ripe plum tomatoes, diced, OR 1-15oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary OR 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
¼ cup dry white wine
Instructions
Heat oven to 400F degrees.
Remove chicken pieces to paper towels and pat dry. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Put flour in a medium-sized bowl. Dredge the chicken pieces one-at-a-time, shake off any excess flour and place in the oil in the skillet.
Brown the chicken on all sides. Remove to a 2-3 quart roasting pan, like Pyrex, a cast iron skillet, or an enameled cast iron pan or pot
Drain off the oil in the frying pan. Return to the stove. Add the remaining ¼ cup olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add the carrots and sautee for 3 minutes.
Add the red pepper and onion. Sautee until the onions are barely translucent.
Add the garlic, stir. Sautee just until you can smell garlic. Be sure not to let it burn.
Place the vegetables over the chicken in the roasting pan.
Return the frying pan to the stove. Over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms, capers and tomatoes, rosemary and wine. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 5 minutes. Pour over the chicken and vegetables in the roasting pan.
Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the foil and return to oven for 15 minutes.
Serve over fluffy hot cooked rice or spaghetti.
Notes
Pollo Contadino is a comfort food best served on colder days. You can also put ingredients, in order on the recipe, in a crockpot on low for 3-4 hours or high for 2-3 hours. You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or drumsticks or any combination of chicken pieces.
Jeff Smith included 12 medium black Italian or Greek olives, and one green pepper and one red pepper to compliment the colors of the Italian flag. I changed it up just a wee bit.
3.5.3251
Here’s an image to PIN!
Copyright, At Mimi’s Table 2013-2018, All Rights Reserved
Along with cooler temperatures, brightly colored leaves, pumpkins, and Indian corn, football arrives.
Which is what prompted me to share this lovely lady cheerleader. Gee, do you remember saddle shoes? Catch the gingham lining of this gal’s skirt. Very classy.
I don’t think it’s possible to watch your favorite team battle it out on the gridiron without Bratwurst & Onions. It is the quintessential tailgating sandwich. Richard and I love them. But at our homestead, there’s only two of us. We’re also past the tailgating phase of our lives. No reason to fire up the grill, so I make ours in a cast iron skillet.
Preparation is quick and belies the juicy, peppery deliciousness soon to be served. Carmelized onions, sauerkraut, mustard! Yes!!
The first thing I do is carmelize a whole onion or two. Slice the onion in half, lay the cut side down on the cutting board, and slice into slivers – the opposite of cutting rings, or half rings in this case.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, add one Tablespoon unsalted butter and one Tablespoon olive oil. Add the onions. Sprinkle with a little salt, and let them saute.
Stir every once in a while with a wooden spoon to make sure they all become nicely browned.
Keep an eye on the skillet. You may have to turn the heat down a bit as the onions cook so they don’t burn.
Remove your perfectly browned onions to a bowl. Set aside while you fry up the brats.
Use the same skillet to cook up the sausages so they soak up the oniony goodness.
Cook over medium heat until brown. Flip them over and brown the other side. The brats are not cooked through at this point, so cover with a lid or a piece of foil and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so. You might even flip them halfway through cooking to keep one side from getting overly brown.
And there you have it. So basic. So juicy and delicious. Put a brat in a bun. Top with cooked onions. And whatever else you want: sauerkraut, German-style mustard. But no ketchup – these are not hot dogs.
Here’s an image to Pin!
Copyright, At Mimi’s Table 2013-2018, All Rights Reserved
A Little Trip Through Southeastern Indiana in search of grits
A few weeks ago Richard and I rambled around southeastern Indiana through Batesville, Oldenburg, Metamora, and Rushville.
Oldenburg, also known as the “Village of Spires,” was settled in 1817 and is one of the oldest communities in the state. It’s a charming little town with a strong German immigrant history. All the streets signs are written in English and German. The city-center is beautifully groomed. Residents keep their yards immaculate; a clear demonstration of community pride. There are some truly spectacular churches in this tiny town of fewer than 600 people.
Then we traveled on State Road 229 to another historic landmark, Metamora, settled in 1838. Metamora is home to the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site. The Duck Creek Aqueduct is believed to be the only wooden covered bridge aqueduct still in operation in the United States. Metamora hosts a working grist mill, where is I bought the grits for Mimi’s Shrimp and Cheesy Grits. It is a nice little part of rural Indiana. The drive along SR 229 was awesome. I wanted to share our little adventure with you. A very cool trip.
All of this has little to do with the recipe that follows. Sometimes you just have to know where your food comes from. Anyway, the Metamora miller told us he’d ground the grits earlier that morning. Wow! I was sold. They sell white and yellow cornmeal, and white corn grits, too. I prefer yellow, so that’s what I bought. Below is a short video about the Metamora Grist Mill from the Indiana State Museum in case you’re interested. What impressed me was all the machinery needed to mill dried corn. A complex series of belts that power the millstones, and a waterwheel to supply power. It’s not a speedy process which made me appreciate my little bag of yellow grits all the more.
Let’s talk about food!
I’ve blogged about my new found food love, grits. Growing up in Northern Indiana and around few southern cooks, the sound of them simply did not appeal to me. Once or twice while traveling south of the Mason-Dixon Line, I tried some at breakfast. Ugh – no thanks – pasty white looking with no flavor.
I broadened my pallet a year or so ago when I walked on the wildside and paired a recipe for cheesy grits with a leftover pot roast for dinner one night.
Grits are not polenta. Grits are not cornmeal mush. Grits are in a beloved class of their own. Creamy, buttery, cheesy, sweet or savory; whatever you wish. And grits are gluten-free! But it’s the butter, cream, and cheese that will kill you. Well, you only live once. Right?
Once the grits are done, this recipe goes pretty quick. And I would recommend cooking the grits and keep them warm before cooking the shrimp. I used very simple ingredients to prepare the shrimp. Butter, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, lemon, and fresh chopped parsley.
I lined a half baking sheet pan with paper toweling. Shelled and deveined one pound of raw shrimp (21-25 count). Rinsed the shrimp in a collander and placed them on a paper towel lined baking sheet. Top with another sheet of paper toweling and gently pat the shrimp dry. You want the shrimp at room temperature and as dry as possible so they saute quickly and become lightly browned in a hot skillet. If the shrimp is not patted dry, it will steam, and that’s not what you want for a perfect shrimpy bite.
Heat a 12″ skillet to medium-high heat. (I use a cast iron skillet.) Spray the shrimp with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. If you like a little heat, you can sprinkle some crushed red dried pepper over the shrimp. Once in the skillet, cook shrimp 1-2 minutes per side. Just enough heat so they’re pink and beginning to slightly curl. Remove shrimp to a plate and loosley cover with foil. Lower the temperature to medium. I usually take my skillet completely off the heat and let it cool a bit before putting back on the burner, so the olive oil and butter don’t brown because the skillet is too hot.
Put the skillet on burner over medium heat. Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter. Add minced garlic and saute 30 seconds to a minute until you can smell the garlic. Add 1/2 cup dry white wine and juice of one lemon. Allow the sauce to simmer until slightly reduced. Add one more tablsepoon of butter and remove the skillet from the heat.
Ladle the grits into four individual serving bowls. Top with shrimp. Spoon sauce over the shrimp and sprinkle with lightly chopped fresh Italian parsley. Have some freshly grated Parmesan cheese ready, too, in case you like a little extra cheesy flavor. And maybe some hot sauce – tobasco? I know. Do Parm and tobasco go together? Why not??
Oh, my mouth is watering! Shall we cook up a batch?
Full bodied, creamy, cheesy with the just the perfect garlicky, shrimpy bite.
Author: Mimi
Recipe type: Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the Grits:
¾ cup grits You can substitute instant grits, but the texture will be different. Regular grits have a better tooth, I think. And regular grits don't take that much longer to prepare, based on my experience for this recipe.
1 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-n-half or whole milk
1 cup water
¼ - ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Shrimp:
1 pound raw shrimp, 21-25 count, peeled and deveined, rinsed and patted dry
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup dry white wine
½-1 lemon, juiced
2 Tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, roughly chopped
Instructions
For the Grits:
In a heavy saucepan, add chicken broth, half-n-half, and water. Bring liquid to a boil over medium-high heat. As the liquid begins to boil, slowly whisk in grits, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook and stir occasionally until grits are thickened. Remove grits from heat and add Parmesan cheese and 1 Tablespoon butter. Stir to incorporate. Put a lid on the pan to keep warm while preparing shrimp.
For the Shrimp:
Peel and devein shrimp. Using a colander, rinse under cool running water. Remove shrimp to a baking sheet lined with paper toweling. Cover with a second sheet of paper toweling. Pat dry.
Set shrimp aside while preparing grits.
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan, bring chicken stock, half-n-half, and water to a gentle boil. Stir in the grits. Or follow cooking directions for the grits if you use instant grits.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook stirring occasionally until thickened.
Remove from heat. Add Parmesan cheese and 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter.
Check for seasoning adding salt and/or pepper to taste.
Put a lid on the saucepan and keep grits warm off heat while preparing shrimp.
Spray shrimp with cooking spray. Season with salt & pepper. May sprinkle with dried crushed red pepper for additional heat, if desired.
Heat a 12" cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Put 1 Tablespoon olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter into the skillet. When the oil is hot, add shrimp in a single layer. Don't overcrowd the shrimp - you may have to cook shrimp in 2 batches.
Cook shrimp 1-2 minutes per side until they're slightly pink and beginning to curl and lightly brown. Remove shrimp to a plate.
In the skillet, add 1 Tablespoon butter. Add minced garlic and saute for approximately one minute until you can smell it.
Add white wine and lemon juice. Simmer the sauce until slightly thickened.
To Serve:
Divide grits between 4 large individual bowls.
Top with cooked shrimp. Spoon garlic/lemon sauce over shrimp. Sprinkle with roughly chopped fresh Italian parsley.
Notes
Serve with extra grated Parmesan cheese and/or a few dollops of Tobasco. Yum!
The first thing I do is carmelize a whole onion or two. Slice the onion in half, lay the cut side down on the cutting board, and slice into slivers – the opposite of cutting rings, or half rings in this case.
Then we traveled on State Road 229 to another historic landmark, Metamora, settled in 1838. Metamora is home to the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site. The Duck Creek Aqueduct is believed to be the only wooden covered bridge aqueduct still in operation in the United States. Metamora hosts a working grist mill, where is I bought the grits for Mimi’s Shrimp and Cheesy Grits. It is a nice little part of rural Indiana. The drive along SR 229 was awesome. I wanted to share our little adventure with you. A very cool trip.
I’ve blogged about my new found food love, grits. Growing up in Northern Indiana and around few southern cooks, the sound of them simply did not appeal to me. Once or twice while traveling south of the Mason-Dixon Line, I tried some at breakfast. Ugh – no thanks – pasty white looking with no flavor.
