Steve was afraid to make Hot Dish. A child of the Midwest, Joanna knows the comfy food of the plains. Not merely a casserole, but an institution. An intimate portrait of "down home cooking" in North Dakota. Hot Dish is the unpretentious offering of a great meal, made for the soul. Made from, and for the generous Midwest heart. Steve did not think he was up to challenging Joanna's treasured childhood memories of this most American of meals. but he had to try. Here is the recipe he attempted.
Hot Dish (Norte Americano Tamale Pie)
from "Hot Dish Heaven" by Ann L. Burchhardt
1/2 pound of lean ground beef
1/2 pound of ground pork
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
14oz can of diced tomatoes
15oz can of whole kernel corn, drained (or two cups frozen corn)
packet of taco seasoning
1/4 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or two jalapeno peppers, minced) optional
1/2 cup of corn muffin mix, mixed with 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk, or
use your favorite cornbread recipe for the topping!
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown beef and pork (or substitute ground turkey!) in a deep skillet. Drain. Saute onion and garlic. Return browned meat, adding tomatoes and corn. Stir in taco seasoning and water. Cook for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Fold mixture into 9-inch round or square casserole dish.
Make muffin mix. Spread corn muffin batter over the casserole. Bake for about 30 minutes.
Enjoy with your favorite salsa, guacamole or green sauce.
Joanna invited her Sunday night co-workers home to try a heartland meal. It was served with Avocados and tomatoes, chopped and topped with garlic and lime juice. The verdict; acceptable. Petrie, one of the sports writers, asked for a standing invitation for Hot Dish. Of course, he takes about 90% of all his meals from McDonald's, so a home cooked meal is always a treat. Joanna said it was just fine. If you have a Hot Dish you would like to share, please post it as a comment!
Have we mentioned how much we love Mary Ann? Well, we love her more than 100 sockeye! (Which is a whole bunch!) Having her in Phoenix for three days was the highlight of our trip. We recommend having Ms. McBride on your next break. She will increase your fun by a factor of 10! She was a blast. She drives. She goes to In-n-Out Burger. She makes funny faces for pictures. She is not mugging for the camera in the picture above, but showing off her beautiful nails with Joanna. Watch out for her impulsive jumping for joy and the overwhelming good times she brings with her! (By the way, Mary Ann makes a great Tater Tot Hot Dish!)
Running around loose in the Herald and News is something dogs do not do. Ever since the Herald and News cat, Boris, was banned, animals of any kind are generally not welcome (even cute ones, like Elvis). Especially off leash. The Elvis Event of the Week is his five minutes of rampaging around the newsroom, jumping on many busy journalist, greeting them with his happy little bark. A visit not soon forgotten by the H&N, quickly forgotten by Elvis and forever remembered in our blog.
Support KRBD this week with your pocketbook during their fund drive. Outstanding public radio for Southern Southeast Alaska. Please check out their link!
Have a great week and don't fall down!
2 comments:
I have two recipes to share. Here's the first (I had to share my version of Tater Tot Hotdish). This one works well in the crockpot, too.
Tater Tot Hotdish
1 1/2 lb. extra lean ground beef
2 lb. pkg. frozen tater tots
1 can french style green beans
1 10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1 10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brown beef & drain. Layer bottom of 9X13 dish with 1/2 the tater tots. Add half of beef & green beans. Spread on mushroom soup. Add rest of beef then chicken soup. Top with rest of the tater tots. Bake 1 hour.
And the 2nd one........it's not exactly a hotdish in the true sense, but I had to share.
Smoked Sausage Dinner
1 lb fully-cooked smoked sausage, cut diagonally into 1" pieces
2 Tbsp water
1 med onion
2 small cooking apples
2 Tbsp butter, divided
1 lb frozen potato wedges
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp caraway seed
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
Place sausage and water in large non-stick frying pan; cover tightly and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cut onion into wedges; core and cut each apple into wedges. Remove sausage to platter and keep warm. In the same frying pan, in 1 Tbsp butter, cook and stir onion and apples for 4 minutes or until apples are just tender. Remove to sausage platter.
Heat remaining butter; add potatoes and cook, covered, over med-high heat for 5 min or until potatoes are tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally. Combine vinegar, sugar, and caraway seed. Reduce heat, return sausage, apple mixture, and vinegar mixture to frying pan and cook for 1 min, or until heated through, stirring gently. Sprinkle with parsley.
Makes 4 servings.
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