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Mexican Pot Pie

A casserole of garlic, onions, peppers, beans, corn, tomato sauce, and a cornmeal crust topping.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 29 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mexican Pot Pie

Oven350 °F
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Sauté garlic, onion, green pepper, celery, and corn in a dollop of vinegar for 10–15 minutes.

  2. Add more vinegar if necessary to keep from sticking.

  3. Stir the cornstarch into the tomato sauce first, then add the rest of the ingredients.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil and spoon it into a 9×13‑inch baking pan sprayed with PAM.

Make the crust and bake

  1. For the crust topping, combine the cornmeal, flour, and baking powder. Mix the dry crust ingredients well.

  2. Combine water, oil, and chilies, and stir the mixture into the dry crust ingredients.

  3. Spoon the crust topping onto the filling.

  4. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 °F.

Serve

  1. After baking, top with low‑fat vanilla yogurt dollops and chopped tomato.

  2. Enjoy.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

942Calories
38 gProtein
24 gFat
147 gCarbs

Counts 15 of 20 ingredients. The other 5 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Seednot in our table0
Beannot in our table0
Toppingnot in our table0
Wheatnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Corn + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the tomato sauce so the filling holds its shape when spooned and baked.
Cornmeal
Forms the structure and slightly gritty texture of the crust topping.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the crust topping rises and bakes lighter.
Flour
Adds structure to the crust topping, binding it with the cornmeal.
Tomato sauce
Provides the liquid base and tomato flavor for the filling.

The step that matters

Stir the cornstarch into the tomato sauce first. Cornstarch clumps if added directly to hot liquid or stirred in unevenly. Mixing it into cold tomato sauce before adding the other ingredients keeps the filling smooth and lets it thicken evenly when it comes to a boil.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, onion, pepper, celery, carrot, corn, beans):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, onion, pepper, celery, carrot, corn, beans. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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