Black Bean Tamale Pie...and a birthday

Today is my best friend's birthday. Her name is Callie, and if you don't know her, she is lovely. We grew up together in Galveston, TX and have maintained a friendship for almost 25 years. Despite the distance--she lives in Los Angeles; I live in New York--our friendship has outlasted awkward phases, jobs, apartments, and boyfriends. We were friends before we wore bras, back in the days when cameras required film and we wrote good old-fashioned letters instead of emails. 

Cake is traditionally served on birthdays, but I'm choosing to toast my friend with pie--black bean tamale pie. We live on the east and west coasts now, but Callie and I will always be Southwestern to the core. For us, comfort foods are the ones with cumin and hot chilies and freshly fried tortilla chips--the kinds of foods our mothers cooked for dinner or we had delivered late at night to our college dorm in Austin. 

This one fits the bill and I think she'd love it. I think you will too!

                        Corn & Black Bean Tamale Pie

Kernels of 4 ears fresh cooked corn (2 cups)

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup masa harina

1 can (16 oz) creamed corn

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 cans (15 oz. each) black beans, rinsed and drained (I used one can of white beans instead of black)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

pinch cayenne pepper

½ tsp oregano

¼ cup tomato puree

1 can (4 ½ oz) diced green chilies

8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 7 by 11-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Puree corn briefly in a food processor. Combine pureed corn, stock, masa, creamed corn, baking powder, and butter in a bowl. Set aside. Combine black beans, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne, oregano, tomato puree, and green chilies in a large bowl. Spread two-thirds of masa corn mixture in bottom of prepared baking dish. Layer bean mixture and cheese. Top with remaining masa corn mixture. Bake one hour. 

{Backstage at our first dance recital.}

{All grown-up in NYC.}

Happy birthday and many kisses, Callie girl. This is gonna be your year. Hope you're out eating chips and queso somewhere in L.A.