Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Gentrified Tater Tot Casserole

That's right, tater tot casserole, one of the many offspring of the church potluck, another dish bound in unity with other baked comestibles that use that culinary duct tape--canned cream of mushroom soup.

If you look down your nose at dinner provided by a one-stop dish formulated for the needs of Campbell's, Ore Ida, and Green Giant, this ain't for you.

So move on, Rockefeller. Move your snooty ass on. Nothing to see here for you.

Ingredients:
1 lb. of lean ground beef
1 package of Green Giant "Valley Fresh Steamers" cut green beans
1 large can of Campbell's low fat cream of mushroom soup
1 package of Onion Tater Tots
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly
Large smidge of Herbs de Provence
Large smidge of thyme
Small smidge of smoked paprika
Healthy dose of cracked black pepper

In a skillet sweat the onions for approximately ten minutes on medium heat and then add the garlic for a couple of minutes. Pull out the onion/garlic in a bowl for later.

Brown the ground beef and then spread it evenly at the bottom of a greased casserole dish; distribute the onion/garlic mixture on top of the beef, spread the green beans (after they've been steamed) on top of that, slather the cream of mushroom soup over all that after you've put in the herbs, pepper, and paprika; and then put the tater tots on top. Put the casserole in a 350 degree oven and bake for approximatley 50 minutes to an hour.

I call it gentrified since I used fresh onions and garlic along with steamed, not canned, green beans. A guy has standards, you know.

Random Notes from a Crank

Ta-Nehisi Coates is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. "My President Was Black" is fitting take on President Obama. And as Coates deftly analyzes, "Pointing to citizens who voted for both Obama and Trump does not disprove racism; it evinces it. To secure the White House, Obama needed to be a Harvard-trained lawyer with decade of political experience and an incredible gift for speaking to cross-sections of the country; Donald Trump needed only money and white bluster."

Here's yet another reason why we should start calling the president-elect "Moscow Don": "Experts Say Trump's 'Policies' Dovetail with What Vladimir Put Would Like for Russia." 

I was on Amazon yesterday contemplating whether I wanted to buy a package of 1000 moist towelettes for thirteen bucks. Those things are helpful. 

I made some tater tot casserole this weekend. It was outstanding. 

I keep forgetting to do a "Sunday Hangover" post about the national championship. It's a difficult game to write about. For me at least. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Non-Sugar Ketchup

I'm not a huge ketchup snob like some people. I use it when I eat fries, and I like it slathered on my tater tot casserole. But even when I dip fries in it, I typically use a 50-50 mixture of ketchup and yellow mustard because ketchup is typically too damn sweet.

And I never use ketchup on hot dogs because I'm not a child. 

So I've recently become obsessed with making non-sugary, homemade ketchup, and I took a recipe for Keto ketchup and modified it a bit.

Ingredients

• 1 6oz. can of tomato paste
• 1 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar alternative (I used Sukrin Gold)
• 2 TB of apple cider vinegar
• 2 TB of white vinegar
• 1 Ts of onion powder
• 1/2 Ts of garlic powder
• 1 Ts of kosher salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• A healthy shake of Penzey's Chicago Steak seasoning

Process

Put all the ingredients together and heat on medium-high until it starts simmering. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir constantly for approximately eight minutes. Take off the heat and let it cool for an hour or so. Transfer to your condiment dispenser of choice.

Future Thoughts

Next time I make it I plan to add in some smoked paprika and maybe bump up the garlic powder to a full teaspoon.