As you can imagine, I didn't grow up in a very patriotic environment. We did enjoy our fair share of the local fireworks scene, but I don't remember hot dogs, tater salad, watermelon and Budweisers being part of our 4th of July. But don't worry folk, I am going to make amends for all that lack of flag waving in one day, actually in one meal. You see we have a kid that works for our family construction business from Moorhead, Minnesota, a stones throw from Fargo (shout out to Trevor and Katy). Now what could be more middle America or more of a place with tractors in the parade than Fargo? And what could be a better dish to make on the 4th that can better capture that good old glory than Tater Tot Hot Dish? The subject came up around lunch time one day last week as we toiled. "You had me at Tater Tots" was all I could say as he recounted his youthful family dinners.
FYI, I just found out that Tater Tot Hot Dish is a favorite of The Duggars. Wow this keeps getting better and better!
As usual on these cooking episodes I will not be sharing a specific recipe. That is in part because I didn't follow one, and because there are about one hundred variations on this all American dish and ya'll have phones to look up your favorite anyway.
The second tenet of Cookin' around here besides not using a recipe is that booze is always a part of the culinary adventure. It being the 4th made it a prime day for cheep beer but the old gluten allergy put that idea to bed. Instead the drink of choice was the pride of Bardstown, KY, Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon, and Sprite. Corn liquor and corn syrup, very American!
The final piece to the prep stage of TTHD was me dragging the laptop into the kitchen and getting a good pirated feed of my beloved Mets dueling the Dodgers on the tube. Yes I said pirated, which is not patriotic, but that was made up for by both teams wearing hideous stars and stripes hats and jerseys.
Cookin'
The great thing about making a good Middle States casserole (aka hot dish), is that it's so easy! Basically you brown the meat and onions, layer that in a glass dish along with the corn and beans, and add the one ingredient synonymous with every good creation: cream of mushroom soup. You could probably put a pair of old boots in a casserole dish and add cream of mushroom and it would taste delicious. But Campbell's has yet to figure out that instead of using flour to thicken their products they could just as easily use corn starch so gluten haters could enjoy boot hot dish with everyone else. So instead, I added a layer of mushrooms and sour cream to my TTHD and attempted to make a gravy/thickener. But my "gravy" of drippings and GF flour quickly began to morph into a greasy, bready mess in the pan, so that element had to be abandoned.
The final and most satisfying step to TTHD is the tot part. Why is it that we love tots so much? Obviously they are a fixture of every good school lunch rotation, but even just opening the bag and layering them on my dish was fun. The nephews and I got into a "discussion" about whether or not I had gone to Sonic to get them. Clearly they are not yet old enough for a proper elementary school cafeteria.
Eats
One thing to make clear to you TTHD adventurers out there is that it takes at least an hour to bake. That means you have time for another round of Mr. Williams and quality couch time to complain about the abomination of patriotic baseball uniforms and how the Mets couldn't hit their own way out of a paper bag. Also note that I briefly set the oven to broil to brown the tots and added cheese to the top right before pulling the dish. (What is more American than cheese on stuff?)
Honestly the TTHD came out of the oven to mixed reviews. The sweetness of the sweet potato tots and the heat of the Italian sausage made for an interesting combination. The corn may have pushed the sweetness over the top just a little. I think regular tots and sausage would have been better, or sweet potato and hamburger. Let's face it, this meal is a gut bomb anyway you slice it. I am sure on a cold Fargo winter night it would wrap around you like a winter coat.
Not to worry though, the watermelon milkshakes and fireworks show capped off a good patriotic 4th after all. My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of eight different types of tater tots.
Shopping
It turns out that shopping for the right ingredients for a good TTHD is a critical step in the cooking processes. So I, rocking my American made hat, drove my American made truck the two blocks (walking on the 4th? please!) to my local Safeway to stock up. By the way, if you want to see a lot of people wearing clothes they wouldn't dare to wear any other day of the year then July 4th is that day. Anyway, my first stop was the frozen food section for the star of the dish, Tater Tots. What I was not prepared for was the sheer volume and variety of frozen potato products available. I stood there with the freezer door open overwhelmed by all the tots, knockoff tots, fries, flavored fries, au gratin, potato pancakes, and hash browns. Then feeling guilty I closed the door which immediately fogged up rendering my search nearly impossible. Eventually I found a couple bags of sweet potato tots to my liking and moved on to the meat department. The sweet potato tots should be enough of a hint that my TTHD was was going to buck the traditional trends. And my choice of Italian sausage instead of hamburger said that loud and clear. Don't worry, to counteract my un-American choices I chose to add frozen corn and green beans to the dish. What's more American than frozen corn?
Drinking
The second tenet of Cookin' around here besides not using a recipe is that booze is always a part of the culinary adventure. It being the 4th made it a prime day for cheep beer but the old gluten allergy put that idea to bed. Instead the drink of choice was the pride of Bardstown, KY, Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon, and Sprite. Corn liquor and corn syrup, very American!
The final piece to the prep stage of TTHD was me dragging the laptop into the kitchen and getting a good pirated feed of my beloved Mets dueling the Dodgers on the tube. Yes I said pirated, which is not patriotic, but that was made up for by both teams wearing hideous stars and stripes hats and jerseys.
Cookin'
The great thing about making a good Middle States casserole (aka hot dish), is that it's so easy! Basically you brown the meat and onions, layer that in a glass dish along with the corn and beans, and add the one ingredient synonymous with every good creation: cream of mushroom soup. You could probably put a pair of old boots in a casserole dish and add cream of mushroom and it would taste delicious. But Campbell's has yet to figure out that instead of using flour to thicken their products they could just as easily use corn starch so gluten haters could enjoy boot hot dish with everyone else. So instead, I added a layer of mushrooms and sour cream to my TTHD and attempted to make a gravy/thickener. But my "gravy" of drippings and GF flour quickly began to morph into a greasy, bready mess in the pan, so that element had to be abandoned.
The final and most satisfying step to TTHD is the tot part. Why is it that we love tots so much? Obviously they are a fixture of every good school lunch rotation, but even just opening the bag and layering them on my dish was fun. The nephews and I got into a "discussion" about whether or not I had gone to Sonic to get them. Clearly they are not yet old enough for a proper elementary school cafeteria.
Eats
One thing to make clear to you TTHD adventurers out there is that it takes at least an hour to bake. That means you have time for another round of Mr. Williams and quality couch time to complain about the abomination of patriotic baseball uniforms and how the Mets couldn't hit their own way out of a paper bag. Also note that I briefly set the oven to broil to brown the tots and added cheese to the top right before pulling the dish. (What is more American than cheese on stuff?)
Honestly the TTHD came out of the oven to mixed reviews. The sweetness of the sweet potato tots and the heat of the Italian sausage made for an interesting combination. The corn may have pushed the sweetness over the top just a little. I think regular tots and sausage would have been better, or sweet potato and hamburger. Let's face it, this meal is a gut bomb anyway you slice it. I am sure on a cold Fargo winter night it would wrap around you like a winter coat.
Not to worry though, the watermelon milkshakes and fireworks show capped off a good patriotic 4th after all. My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of eight different types of tater tots.
That read like a good mystery novel...felt real proud of myself 1/2 way through the ingredients thinking he should have picked the regular tots with that sausage, which by the end made me feel proud I figured out the 'what I should have done' ending!! Would have enjoyed a taste on the 4th, though:) Love it when there are new posts!! Kathy
ReplyDeleteoh yea...and then I took a Tum's:)Kathy
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