Since having received the Taco Pie recipe from one of my yoga students a little over a year and a half ago, I think I have made it at least four times. My husband and I have loved it every time. But, honestly the last time was not my favorite. I was really tasting the meat and I don’t like the TASTE of meat. The meat didn’t have enough flavor AND I over cooked it. Since the assembled “pie” is in the oven for 30 minutes the meat does not (SHOULD not) be thoroughly cooked prior to putting it in the oven. Overcooked beef is bad, but overcooked turkey, is worse.
Since I don’t care for the flavor of plain meat, I like it to be heavily flavored when added to a dish so that its flavor layers into the dish and combines with the rest of the ingredients. The last time I made Taco Pie I hit an out-of-the-park-home-run and the funny thing, it was quite by accident.
I planned on making taco pie so I made out a grocery list, which I have to do, of course, because I don’t stock enchilada sauce or taco sauce. I was so looking forward to it. I was on the phone when I started cooking it so I did it a little differently, when I got off the phone I read the part I did incorrectly and shrugged – too late now. So I added the sauces, then read the rest of the recipe. “D’OH!”. I forgot the corn tortillas!!!!! How did I think I was going to make taco pie????? Grrrrr! Clearly I did not read the recipe when making my list. How did I forget corn tortillas?
Well, good thing I had just bought two packs of flour tortillas! Flour tortillas it is! BEST MISTAKE EVER!!!
As I often say on my blog, I use it as my recipe book – although as I re-wrote this recipe I see that I had NOT been using my post of the recipe, I had been using the original print out, and so I thought this new version had a few more differences than the first post, but it is not as many as I thought. But still, I am re-posting the taco pie recipe with my current changes so I can just reference this one and not even have to go to the other one. You, Dear Reader, can use whichever one you prefer.
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Taco Pie
1 Tablespoon or coconut oil
1/2 of an onion
(just under) 1 1/2 lb. ground beef
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons cumin
12 ounces enchilada sauce
1 bottle taco sauce
20 ounces cream of mushroom soup (2 boxes)
6 to 8 (soft taco size) flour tortillas
4 cups grated Mexican Cheese
1 can sliced black olives
Preheat oven to 325° F.
Chop the onion. Heat the oil in a large pan, then add the onion to the pan. Cook until it starts to caramelize. Add the meat (crumbling it as you cook it or crumble it into the pan). Sprinkle the meat with garlic salt and cumin as you cook it. You add as much flavor as you want, I learned I want to cover the meat with the cumin (might end up being more than 1 1/2 – 2 Tblsp). DO NOT COOK MEAT ALL THE WAY! (note to self) Cook the meat until it is about half done, maybe a tad more. Turn off the heat.
Add the enchilada sauce, the taco sauces, and the cream of mushroom soup. Stir until it is all mixed together with the meat.
In a 9X13 baking dish you are going to do layers. First layer is 1/3 of the sauce, the next layer is 3 – 4 tortillas to cover the sauce (I don’t let a lot of tortilla overlap), then sprinkle a light layer of cheese, then 1/3 of the sauce, then 3 – 4 tortillas, then a sprinkle of cheese. Then use the rest of the sauce to cover the tortillas, then cover it with the cheese. Sprinkle on some sliced olives. Save some to add for serving.
Bake for 45 minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving. Top with the sliced olives.
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Terre Pruitt's Blog 