Umami Hotdish

Officially, this is the Minnesota staple of Tater Tot Hotdish (or casserole for people who aren't from the MidWest). While making it, I was adding the mushrooms, soy sauce, milk and Parmesan cheese and figured...no wonder this stuff is so delicious, it's like an umami orgy in your mouth!

This dish is also marking the official end of my meatphobia. Yes, I gathered my courage and traipsed over to the Butcher counter where I asked for 1 lb of local free range ground turkey. Using the convenient paper packaging, i mangled the lump into my pan and browned it up. It tastes grand, thank you very much. Overcoming your fears has never been so tasty.

I really don't like using canned condensed soup...not even for soup. There is something so disgusting about anything that comes (or rather glops) out of a can and stays in the shape of the can. (I'm looking at you, Cranberry Jelly). Never mind that I have to break it up with a spoon and call it "sauce". Whenever i make a casserole, i always make my own mushroom cream sauce. I swear, it comes together in no time and tastes 100 times better. And let's not forget it's probably that many times better for you. It's basically my mushroom gravy recipe, but with an addition of an extra 1/8 cup of flour. I can't really afford alcohol (probably because i buy so much of it in bars nowadays. Damn metropolitan life!) but if i had it, i'd probably also add a splash of sherry or red wine to round out the sauce and maybe even a dash of Worcestershire sauce too. Note to self: i can probably afford that...pick some up.

A funny tangent. Despite the fact that this mushroom cream sauce is floating atop browned ground turkey...i still made it vegan. Old habits die hard eh? After all these years (year?) of not being vegan anymore, i still can't get myself to cook with real dairy or butter...nor can i get myself to buy anything besides Vegetable stock.

And i think tater tot manufacturers purposely make tater tots the size they are so that they would perfectly fit into an 8x8 casserole dish in neat lines, without nary a gap. God Bless America.

Tater Tot Hotdish

The MEAT part
1 lb ground turkey thigh
1/2 onion chopped
A little olive oil
Salt, Pepper, Paprika

The VEGETABLE part
1 bag frozen green beans, thawed (fresh beans, parblanched prior are preferable)
Any other combination of frozen/canned vegetables that you like. Some people like sweet corn or peas and carrots.

The SAUCE part

1 cup of chopped (brunoised?) crimini mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp rubbed dried sage leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
3/8 cups of flour
1/4 cup of butter
1 can of Vegetable (or Chicken) Stock
1/2 cup of cream (or in my case unsweetened soymilk)
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
Salt, Pepper, Fresh grated nutmeg

The TOT part
16 oz. of frozen tater tots
1/2 cup of French's French Fried Onions
Grated Parmesan Cheese (optional)
Ground black pepper and Paprika

Oven: middle rack, 350 degrees.

1. Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and add chopped onions. Saute for 2 minutes and add ground turkey. Break up turkey with wooden spoon as it browns. Cook turkey until it is all the way cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and some paprika. Drain and put into the bottom of a greased 8x8 casserole dish.

2. Pour out the remaining juices from the turkey and return the pan to the heat. Add mushrooms and saute for a few minutes. Add minced garlic and saute until mushrooms get brown and a heavenly smell emanates into all parts of your small studio apartment. Add thyme, sage, salt and pepper.

3. Add butter to mushrooms. When the butter is fully melted, add flour and stir to coat. Cook until flour turns a slight blond color. At this point, add your can of stock and bring to a boil which is the point at which the flour will thicken your sauce. Add your milk or cream and soy sauce, stir to incorporate. My favorite part is swirling these elements into the thickened sauce. Finish with fresh grated nutmeg and more black pepper.

4. Assembly! Put your thawed (or freshly parblanched) vegetables in a layer on top of the meat in the dish. Spoon your sauce over the vegetables. Sprinkle a layer of French's French Fried Onions. Now for the fun part. Arrange frozen tater tots in neat rows on top of onions, making to cover every inch (it's part of the effect).

5. Place in the oven uncovered and bake for 35 minutes (remove after 25 minutes to add grated cheese if using and place back into oven), or until tater tots are nice and browned. You may need to switch your oven to broil for a bit.

6. Remove from oven and allow to sit for about 15 minutes before serving (to let the liquids settle and because it's FREAKING hot!)

7. Uffda! That's good.