Smoky-Spicy Tamale Pies

Smoky-Spicy Tamale Pies, from Cooking Light’s “For Two” column
Hubby and I liked these a lot. They were a bit too spicy for Girl, but she’s not feeling well and wasn’t too excited about dinner, in general, anyway. Boy got hungry before these were finished baking. These were tasty and simple, but more time-consuming than this tamale pie recipe (although not a lot more). It’s a nice variation, but the two are pretty different. The first one is more like a soupy chili with soft polenta topping and this one is more like a spicy turkey-tomato stew with a cornbread topping. I added a little bit of oregano and assorted seasonings to the cornbread, which turned out to be a good move; it would have been TOTALLY bland without it. Overall, this was pretty good, just very different than the other one. I doubled the recipe to make 4 and ended up using some small fruit bowls that are a part of my (ovenproof) everyday dishes. The recipe calls for 1.5 cup ramekins, but I’ve NEVER seen ramekins that big. If you have something like onion soup crocks or ovenproof soup bowls, etc., that would work nicely.