Random Recipe: Week 1 - Tater Tot Casserole

Boyfriend loves all things potato. I shouldn't use the word love. It's too mild. He's obsessed, worships, devours, all things potato. I discovered the lengths his devotion goes to when I made fried diced seasoned potatoes for dinner one night. He ate almost the entire pan, then complained the rest of the night about how close to bursting he was. I, of course, like the good dutiful girlfriend I am, poked him in the belly and laughed myself silly when he groaned in pain. It was highly entertaining.

A couple weeks back, I got an email from Campbells Kitchen for Tater Tot casserole. It was too good to pass up. Tater Tots, and ground beef? Perfect! My only concern? The Cream of Mushroom soup the recipe called for. I've never been a fan of that soup because of the overly mushroom-y flavor, but I was willing to give it a go. Boyfriend was worried too; when I pulled the can out of the pantry, he got this seriously alarmed look on his face. The conversation went something like this:
"What are you going to do with that?"
"Put it in the pan, what else would I do with it?"
"But..but...why??"
"Uhm, cause the recipe says I'm supposed to?"
"Huh."
I'm the kind of cook who will follow a recipe to the letter the first time around, and then tweak it when I'm done with my own touches on the second go-round. So...cream of mushroom soup it was. About the only time I divert on the first attempt is if I KNOW I don't like an ingredient, and can easily swap it out, or if adding a topping would make it that much better. Which, in this case, happened to occur.

The recipe was incredibly easy. A minimal amount of ingredients. Next to no prep time. Defrosted the ground beef, chopped up the onion, and bam, prep work was done. I browned the meat and onions together, added the soup, ketchup, and worchestershire sauce (I LOVE that stuff!!!) and let it simmer for a couple minutes until the soup was fully heated. The recipe said to use a 2qt shallow casserole dish, but I only had a 3qt and a 1qt, so I went with the 1qt. Lined the pan with tinfoil, and piled the whole mess into the pan.

At this point, the mixture smelled kind of funny (funny = mushroom-y) but I decided to stick with it. I added a layer of cheese, which was not mentioned in the recipe, and then layered the tots all over the top. Now, I should mention here that the original picture for the recipe only had a layer of tots around the edge. I knew this wasn't going to fly with Boyfriend, so I laid them down sideways - instead of straight up, like shown in the picture - and covered the entire top. Why, you ask? Because sideways vs straight up means more surface for browning, which means more crunch, and because Boyfriend LOVES his tater tots. See above if you don't believe me.

I popped the entire pan in the oven at 425 degrees, and let it bake until the tots were nice and brown. I served two bowls while it was still steaming hot, added some Tapatio after the fact, and we chowed down.

My review? It was actually pretty damn good. The mushroom soup acted as a base to develop the flavor of the meat, and even helped draw some of the tater tot flavor down into the mixture. The little bit of Tapatio added the kick I prefer, and the cheese added a nice depth.

Boyfriend's review? Very hearty. It'd be a great dish for a cold winter night when you've been starving all day. The mushroom soup blended really well; he was surprised at how good it all tasted together. He liked it ALOT, and gave it his Guinea Pig Approval.

All in all, the recipe turned out really well. It's easy to make, tastes decent, and was really cheap! A pound of beef, a medium onion, some cheese, and half a pack of tater tots. All stuff that was left over from other recipes. Kewl! My only issue with the recipe is it's so far from healthy it's not even funny. I paired the dish with a basic (for me, anyways) dinner salad, and that made me feel a little bit better about the humongous amount of calories I consumed, but even that only went so far. I give the dish a 3 out of 5 on the Random Recipe scale, due mostly to a somewhat bland flavor (it definitely needed the Tapatio IMHO) and the fat factor.

And for your general perusal, should you choose to make it:

Tater Tot Casserole

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 cups frozen fried potato nuggets

1. Cook the beef and onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring to separate meat. Pour off any fat. 2. Stir the soup, ketchup and Worcestershire in the skillet. Spoon the beef mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Arrange the potatoes around the inside edge of the baking dish. 3. Bake at 425°F. for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown. Makes: 5 servings (about 1 1/3 cups each).