Author: Caroline Olsen-Van Stone
Before last week, I knew Minnesota as nothing more than the home of Garrison Keillor’s radio show “Prairie Home Companion,” lots of lakes and an accent that manifests itself in charming phrases like “ish” for “icky” and “don’t ‘cha know.” Then, I moved in with two Minnesotan roommates who have revealed to me the real gem of their home state: hot dish, a comfort food that I had never had the joy of tasting. I knew hot dish as another word for casserole and thought that I understood it. My roommate Laura Mellem’s (junior) tater tot hot dish, however, proved me wrong.
She had mentioned it the first week I moved in, and three visiting Minnesotans had later corroborated her story by singing its praises. So I had to wonder: is it just another Minnesota thing?I arrived home the other night and smelled something very . . . well, yummy. It smelled like warm, cheesy goodness-which is, of course, a redundant but necessary list of attributes.Out of the oven came a casserole, ahem, hot dish drizzled with Cheddarella cheese on top. “You want some?” Mellem asked. Her question was met with a stunned look and “I thought you’d never ask.”
I tentatively served myself a small spoonful of my first hot dish. “Make sure to stir it, it’s better that way,” Mellem said. Stirring hot dish is essential, I learned, because the melted goodness of cheese and other ingredients doesn’t always reach the bottom layer. Hot dish is constructed much like a parfait: layer-by-layer. The first layer is made of pre-cooked hamburger meat or veggie crumbles. On top of that is a layer of peas or mixed vegetables and chopped onions. Then come the namesake ingredient, tater tots, which are also already prepared. The next level is cream of mushroom soup. The last layer is shredded cheese, piled high for good measure.Obviously, I took another more-heaping spoonful and gobbled it up faster than the first.
The challenge was not over, however, because later that night I got hungry again. The hot dish was neatly covered with foil in the fridge, nestled carefully between the milk and eggs. What was I to do but sneak a tiny bit of scrumptious hot dish?
I grasped the handles of the dish, placed it on the counter and studied the foil wrapping job intensely, so that I could reproduce it after procuring a tiny delicious helping. I must clarify that Mellem had invited me to eat her piéce de resistance, but I did not want to reveal my nasty lack of self-control at the time. Nevertheless, I snatched a spoon from the drawer, plunged it into the hot dish and paused before bringing it to my lips. My father’s adage “hunger is the best sauce” zinged through my mind and so I waited, staring at the spoonful.
I finally gave in, then I gave in again and again and again. My apology for finishing the hot dish, and my advice for apologizing for a similar offense is as follows: “This miracle of Midwest cuisine forced my stomach to switch my body into auto-pilot mode, rendering me unaware and unable to control the mechanism for my mouth, arm and conscience. My only mea culpa is: that you should take my inability to stop as the highest of compliments. Please forgive me.”
If you would like to make your very own tater tot hot dish, see Mellem’s recipe.
Laura Mellem’s Tater Tot Hot Dish:
1 lb. ground beef or veggie crumbles
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb. bag tater tots
1 10-oz can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
Brown hamburger and drain or put crumbles in casserole dish
Put onions (and veggies if you want) on top
Put tots on top
Mix soup and milk (can also sprinkle with shredded cheese here)
Pour soup mixture on top
Bake at 350 F for 1/2 to 1 hour
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