Back to my roots
September 9th, 2008
If you’d been in my kitchen yesterday afternoon you’d have seen me opening various cupboard doors, hoping something would jump out at me hollering, “Make meeeeee for dinner!” And whaddaya know, something did.
I found a bag of tater tots in my freezer, along with some ground beef and frozen peas and corn. I always have onions and condensed cream-of-mushroom soup in the pantry, and cheddar cheese in the fridge. It was time to go back to my roots, time to make one of the most hard-core Midwestern meals out there. It was hotdish time!
I grew up eating hotdish mostly at church suppers. Another common name for it is tater-tot casserole. There are as many different recipes as there are cooks, but it generally involves ground beef, condensed cream-of-something soup, canned or frozen mixed vegetables, and tater tots. Sometimes there is cheese in there somewhere too. Often it’s eaten with ketchup. It’s easy to prepare, and can be varied according to the tastes of your picky eaters (different soup, different veggies, no veggies at all, skip the cheese).
In other words, hotdish is pretty much the ultimate comfort food. With ketchup. Yum!
Hotdish
1 lb. lean ground beef or turkey
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
2 c. frozen peas
2 c. frozen corn
2 cans condensed cream-of-mushroom soup
2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
frozen tater tots to cover the top
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef, adding the onion, celery, garlic and bay leaf. Continue cooking over medium-low heat till the vegetables are soft. Season with salt and pepper as you like. Remove from heat. Drain off the fat, remove and discard bay leaf, and set aside to cool slightly.
Spread the meat mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole pan. Cover with frozen peas and corn. Spoon the condensed soup on top, spreading it around to cover all the vegetables. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the soup. (If you’re preparing this dish ahead of time, at this point you can cover and refrigerate the casserole till you’re ready to bake it.) Cover the cheese with frozen tater tots.
Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 60 minutes, checking at 30 minutes to see if the tater tots are browning too quickly. If necessary, lower the heat to 350 for the remaining 30 minutes. When the topping is brown and crispy, the hotdish is done. Remove from oven and allow to sit for five minutes. Serve with ketchup.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:51 am
That sounds curiously delicious.
I may have to try that.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:03 am
I’m with Lauren! I’ve heard of ‘Hotdish’ but never realized it spoke of an actual recipe - I thought it was a generic term for “something in a casserole which is brought to a potluck or mourning call”. I have all that stuff and adore the idea of something that can be mostly made ahead. This will be on our menu soon!
September 10th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hmm. I don’t eat meat and I hate cream of mushroom soup, AND YET - I must have this. I wonder if doing a “healthy” version would ruin the charm. I wonder if what I really want is the tater tots.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Duuuude. That? Looks delicious!
September 10th, 2008 at 9:05 am
OH yum! I have got to try that one. I have an easy peasy chicken casserole that is similar, but uses crescent rolls for the topping. Tater Tots might even inspire J to give it a try :).
September 10th, 2008 at 9:18 am
OOH, I think I may make a teeny tiny version of this tonight! YUM!
September 10th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
After I saw your first picture I had a flashback to the tater-tot casserole my mom used to make for us as kids. Yep - you put tater-tots on yours as well. I don’t know how my mom came up with the dish and I had not thought about it until just now. Thanks for the flashback.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Looks suspiciously like the “leftover special” that my grade school served on Fridays. At least I know what it’s “real” name is now! Oh, the memories . . .
I need to go buy me some tater tots and make this for dinner tomorrow!
September 10th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
As a Minnesotan….
Tater-Tot Hot Dish, I love thee.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Ah, hotdish…is there anything better on a chilly fall day? *sigh*
September 10th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
oh my gosh!
I’m going to make this tonight…. so so so tasty looking!!
September 11th, 2008 at 4:35 am
That’s my recipe for Tator-Tot Casserole!
YUM with a capital Y, baby!
:)
September 11th, 2008 at 10:45 am
New to me and it looks and sounds delicious!
I love casseroles, and one with tater tots, yumm!
September 11th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Oh my goodness, I have to make this. I’ve been bored at work today, clicking around the Internet, and every time I click on your site to see if there are any new posts, I see the shot of that casserole and my stomach growls. Looks fabulously trashy. My favorite kind of food.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Bethany, I made this the other night after ready your blog. Everyone in my house loved it, it was a big success and will definetly be made again! Thanks…