Thursday, November 20, 2008

Aztec Pie, warm dish for a cool evening.



















Just prior to the onslaught of pies, desserts & stuffings wash over us in a warm holiday buzz I thought I'd post a different type of pie recipe from South of the Border. Pay (pronounced pie) Azteca is a traditional Mexican dish which is an easy casserole perfect for the upcoming holiday rush. The warm cheese layers & hearty quality of this dish make it a wonderful choice for cool weather. Mexico's ancient Tenochtitlan later known as the Aztec used corn in much of their food. In this recipe I used roasted Poblano Peppers which we can always locate in Mexico (*if those are unavailable canned roasted green chilies can be substituted). The origins of this dish are rather blurred by time & history but the traditional dish has popularity both north & south of the border. Besides it's as easy as....

Aztec Pie~Pay Azteca

15 Corn tortillas, cut into triangles
1 1/2 cups Corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 Poblano chili peppers roasted, peeled, seeded & cut into strips
2 cups Sour Cream
1 lg. egg
pinch of ground cumin
8 oz. Manchego, Oaxaca Cheese or Monterrey Jack grated
Sauce:
1/4 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Lg. Tomato, diced
2 cups Tomato puree
salt, pepper to taste

Lightly bake tortillas @ 350 for 15 min. spread evenly on a cookie sheet, sprayed with vegetable spray.
Prepare the sauce by sauteing the onion, garlic & tomato for 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree & simmer 10 min. seasoning with salt & pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Mix sour cream & 1 beaten egg with pinch of cumin.
In an oven proof, greased 9 x 13 casserole: layer 1/2 of the tortillas, 1/2 of tomato sauce, 1/2 of the corn & poblano strips, 1/2 sour cream mixture, top with 1/2 cheese. Repeat layers ending with cheese. Bake in 350* oven for 30 minutes or till bubbling at the edge & slight golden color to the edges. Remove from heat, cool for 10 minutes, cut into squares & serve. This is great served with a tossed green salad & a nice white wine. Enjoy.

12 comments:

Mariana Kavroulaki said...

It is still warm and wet autumn here in Athens, but the winter is ante portas and this pie looks perfect for it.
Thanks,
Mariana.

Hornsfan said...

This looks pretty tasty to me - funny to think of it the way you described it to me on the phone....Mexican Lasagna :)

Dee said...

Mariana~I would imagine you can find some wonderful peppers there to substitute for the Poblano & turn this dish into a wonderful Mediterranean meal.
Lauren~it is, I has wonderful layers like a lasagna.

Chef E said...

Yum, that looks good, reminds me of the way my layered chicken enchiladas look! I like the history lessons too, and could you ship me some cactus up here, I miss my cactus tacos. My sister dated a guy from Mexico and he turned me on to them. :)

Chef E said...

Oh, and I wanted to say, I forgot about watching them throw the pizza dough up in the air, man I guess my memories are going one piece at a time...

Abby said...

Looks very warm and tasty! It got really cold in N.C. this wee - we had snow this morning! This would be great to warm us up!

Reeni said...

This looks really delicious!! Yum!

Pattie @ Olla-Podrida said...

This looks SO GOOD. I think I'll fix this on Tuesday night. It will be a nice change from what's to come. Thanks for the recipe and the lovely photo.

katie lore said...

This looks like a good recipe for when my vegetarian daughter returns home....yum!

Nirvana's Kitchen said...

This looks wonderful -- I love all the pictures on your site! :)

BanginFood said...

This looks like my kind of meal. By the way, thanks for visiting our blog!

Heidi Leon Monges said...

hola! this looks amazing, wish you can send me that by airplane right away :-)

i love pastel azteca and ithasbeing ages, really ages I haven't try it!

saludos desde Shanghai