With all the coverage of the utilitarian and comforting Minnesota hotdish in the news since vice presidential candidate Tim Walz entered the race, I decided to try making one of his recipes. There are several online. Apparently the Senate is a hotbed of culinary competition. Most outlets seem to be focused on his recipe for Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hotdish. But I’m from Southern California, so I decided to make Tim’s Turkey Taco Tot Hotdish. Actual Minnesotans have been at pains to explain to us outsiders that the hotdish and casseroles are not the same. Think of casseroles as an umbrella term, and the hotdish a type within that umbrella. Definitions are that it must be a main dish (casseroles are often side dishes), and include protein, starch, and some idea of vegetables. It should also have a creamy element.
Because I’m me and constitutionally incapable of following a recipe to the letter (even my own), I made a couple of changes. The most dramatic was choosing to make the hotdish with beef instead of turkey. Minnesota may be the top-producing turkey state in the U.S., according to Walz, but I can’t bring myself to purchase that ground turkey brand you see everywhere at the supermarket. I have rules for the meat I bring into my house. As I said, I’m from Southern California and because of my job as host of KCRW’s Good Food, I know way too much about the food chain, and what is on the shelves and in refrigerator cases at grocery stores. I could have looked for a better source of ground turkey, but I ran out of time. I am open to suggestions for the future. I chose grass-fed beef with a lean to fat ratio of 80-20, ensuring a heartier finished dish. Next time I would go with a leaner grind.
The dish is simple to put together. You first saute some onions and red bell peppers (full disclosure, I used a sweet pepper growing in my backyard that was half red and half green). Then separately, brown the meat. I have browned countless vats of beef in service of making Bolognese sauce for my restaurants, and I have a trick to ensure an even crumble of meat after browning. When I put the lump of ground meat in the pan, I add a small amount of water. As the meat and water heat up, the water loosens the lump of ground meat, and allows it to cook more evenly. It quickly boils off, after which the meat quickly browns with no lumps, only a nice even crumble. Once the meat is browned, you add the spice mixture, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. I had a chili spice blend on hand with all those spices plus more that I like, so I used that instead, adding a teaspoon of bittersweet Spanish paprika, one of my favorite spices for the depth of flavor and hint of smokiness it imparts. I also added a bit of Mexican oregano because I adore the aroma. The blend I used is Santa Fe Chili Powder from Oaktown Spice Shop in Oakland. Chili and taco spice blends are remarkably similar. The spiced mince was starting to resemble a Taco Tuesday experience I used to have as a kid visiting friends in Fresno who hailed from Arkansas. Except that my blend had actual spiciness in it from jalapeño, and I used double the amount called for in the mince. Then kernels of corn went into the pan. I cut them off of fresh ears. But for this dish, frozen or canned will work. And for the “1 can mild green chiles,” I chose Hatch chiles. It’s at this point that I made an executive decision to leave out the canned black olives. I didn’t substitute brined black olives because I think that particular flavor is too assertive for this dish, and tacos don’t need olives, even a hotdish variety.
Evan Kleiman’s hotdish contains hotdish with grass-fed beef instead of turkey. Photo by Evan Kleiman.
Now we move into culinary territory wholly unfamiliar to me. As a child, I experienced only one casserole. My mother made one that included rice, chicken breast, apricot jam, and cream of celery soup. I have no words. She never made another one after that. Although we did have Hamburger Helper a couple of times, which is related to the meat mixture in this dish. After moving the seasoned mince to a bowl and adding the sauteed onion and pepper, the recipe calls for stirring in two cups of shredded cheddar cheese. I used a combo of Tillamook’s Mexican blend and their cheddar blend. The cheese started to melt into the mix immediately, making it creamy. But the real creaminess (remember, it’s an essential part of the hotdish experience) came with the 16 ounces of sour cream I stirred in. Honestly, I understand the desire for a creamy element here, but I’d choose something other than sour cream if I made this again. It blunted the flavor, and took it in a stroganoff direction. Which isn’t a bad thing for me, stroganoff being my childhood birthday dinner request, but I would have preferred something like a cream of chicken soup. I can’t believe I’m actually saying that. But seeing that creamy condensed soups are an oft-used ingredient in hotdishes, I don’t think it would be amiss. Or maybe I would just make my own thickened chicken broth like I do for pot pies. Or, heresy, I know perhaps I would add just a touch of tomato sauce or leave it a bit less creamy. Really, the shredded cheese does some heavy lifting here.
Now we get to the fun part. Situating the mince mixture into the dish, liberally sprinkling more shredded cheese over it, and arranging the tots on top. I chose not to use the ubiquitous Ore-Ida tots and chose Alexia’s loaded potato version, because, why not?
Would I make it again? Actually yes, but without the sour cream. I have a lot of tortillas because I’m in the throes of judging for the tortilla tournament, so I made a taco with the mince mixture before I put it in the dish. It was 100% not “authentic,” and 100% delicious.