Screaming Carne Asada Pie

{Screaming Carne Asada Pie in Cornmeal Crust}
[Carne Asada: Marinated Grilled Steak]
If you don’t scream from the heat, you’ll perspire.

Note: Lots of advance prep in this recipe so read it through before beginning.

Prepare crust in advance.
Cornmeal Crust
It took me many tries and many recipes to get this cornmeal crust to cooperate. My compliments to Beatrice Ojakangas for giving me the best combinations of dry and wet, although I have added more butter because it seemed my pastry continued to need more fat to have the right consistency of flakiness without being too crumbly after baking.

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
¾ (1 ½ sticks) + 2TBS chilled unsalted butter cut into ½-inch slices
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2-3 TBS ice water (more if needed)

Stir together the flour, cornmeal and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. With a fork, stir the egg, vinegar and 1 TBS of the ice water together. Add the liquid to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork just until the pastry is moist enough to hold together. Add more ice water as needed to form a nice smooth ball of dough, one TBS at a time. This dough needs to be a little moister than others, due to the cornmeal, or it’s just too hard to work with and your piece will come out looking like a monster. Knead the dough for 3 or 4 rounds. Wrap the pastry and chill for 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Marinate Carne Asada:

Ingredients:
•2 pounds skirt steak
•1/2 cup tequila
•1/4 cup lime juice
•1/4 cup lemon juice
•1/4 cup orange juice
•4 cloves garlic crushed
•1 medium onion chopped
•2 teaspoons black pepper
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•2 teaspoons Tabasco (more if you have a whole of screaming to do)

Preparation of meat:
Mix juices, garlic, onion, tequila, Tabasco, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add meat and marinade both sides. Cover and refrigerate, turning meat over occasionally. Let steak marinade for 6 to 8 hours.

Remaining Pie Filling:

Ingredients:

Salsa needs to marinate for a day or two as well, so prepare the following in advance:
[6 jalapenos
5 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin powder
5 tomatillos
3 roma tomatoes
1-2 TBS red wine vinegar]* alternative to screaming hot, using a 1 ½ cups of chipotle salsa from your local grocer, your spice level, substituting for the bracketed ingredients, because sometimes you don’t need to scream as much as other times. Or, if you are a complete wimp, you can substitute using V-8 juice and red and green bell peppers. My Southern mom would call that Yankee Pie.
Slice peppers top to bottom and scrape out the seeds. Cut garlic, tomatillos, and tomatoes into chunks. Place all ingredients in blender and pulse to desired consistency

1 TBS corn oil
½ pound fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
½ cup chopped onion
3 more Roma tomatoes
1 bunch of green onions, grilled
salt to taste
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 can black beans
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp cumin

Preparation:

Preheat grill to high. Remove meat from marinade, reserving marinade. Place meat on grill and sear both sides to lock in the juices. Turn down heat to medium, place oiled green onions on top shelf of grill or away from direct flame and close lid. Turn steak once during cooking. Check on onions, as they may be done. Brush steak with remaining marinade. Cook to your liking (12 to 15 minutes for medium-rare). Cut into thin slices. Set aside.

Pour salsa, homemade or store-bought, into large heavy skillet. Heat 1 tablespoon of corn oil, cook the onions and mushrooms until tender and starting to turn brown. Add the salsa, corn, beans, chili powder, cumin, salt and grilled carne; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Remove prepared pie dough from fridge at least fifteen minutes before time to assemble pie.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Assemble pie

Make egg glaze with 1 whole egg and 1 tablespoon milk beaten together. Relish the beating.

Divide the crust into 2 parts, and roll out half the dough to fit into a 9 or 10-inch pie pan. Spoon the filling into the pie shell. Roll the remaining dough out slightly larger than the top of the pie. Brush the edges with beaten egg. Place the dough circle on the top of the pie, and flute the edges to seal. Slice air vents in the top crust so steam will release while baking. Brush the top with the remaining egg glaze. Bake for 35 minutes or until the meat filling is hot and the crust is golden.

Serve with guacamole and sour cream to soothe the tongue.