jason kottke thinks he knows how to make tator tot hot dish, and he’s sort of right, but his recipe could use some improvement. (among other things, he puts the ingredients upside down in the pan!) I may no longer live in ‘minneap,’ but I do remember the recipe. It goes something like this:

Ingredients:

• 1 package frozen tator tots
• 1 lb spicy Italian sausage (you can use ground beef, but why would you?)
• 1 can french cut green beans
• 1 can corn
• 1 lb cheddar, grated
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cans of your favorite cream-of-[something] soup. I usually opt for one mushroom and the other of celery, but it can’t make a big difference.
• 1 can milk, swished in above soup cans

Battle Strategy:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Brown the meat with the onion in a skillet. I never pour off the oil, which makes it taste even better. Keep in mind this dish is supposed to help you survive through the cold winter months. It needs to be nourishing. Add the corn, green beans, soup-goo, and milk to the skillet, and mix together. Pour into 9×13″ baking pan. Arrange tator tots on top. I’m German, so I tend to keep the arrangement disgustingly regular, but feel free to experiment. Bake for 40 minutes or until tots have become golden brown to liking. Cover with cheese, and bake another 20.

Additional Notes:
You can’t screw this dish up. The recipe is very forgiving, and the dish is very resilient. Don’t worry about 1 vs 2 cans soup, 1 vs 2 cans veggies, etc. Once you get that pan in the oven, drink some beer and chillax with your friends, who you should have invited over to mitigate the risk of a heart attack.

• 2 C flour
• 1 C sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter, softened
• Chocolate chips to taste (1/2 to 1/3 bag, usually)

1. Mix ingredients together in a large bowl. Growing up i used a mixer, but in the past 8 years, elbow grease has worked fine. Just make sure the bananas and butter are pulverized, and that there are no pockets of flour lurking in the batter.
2. Grease a standard size loaf pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour 10 min at 350°F or until toothpick comes out almost dry.

please note: this is from memory, but i’ve made it enough times, and the recipe is simple enough — what could i possibly have gotten incorrectly?

one onion
one enormous clove of garlic
two chicken breasts
brocolli, peas, veggies of choice.
one can coconut cream/milk.
two large dollops tomato paste (3/4 of a small can)
hot pepper flakes
salt, pepper, basil, red pepper flakes, chili sauce (the korean kind) and fish sauce if possible.
two heaping teaspoons sugar (brown is best)
one or more cups veggie stock.

preparation:
mostly like stir fry: divide and conquer 2 breasts of chicken into small pieces. salt them and pepper them. then stick them in the skillet and try to kill them. take them out, then do the same thing with the onion. put the garlic in a bit later, once the onions have died. put back in the chicken, then add coconut cream, tomato paste, some sugar and veggie stock. simmer like crazy until your rice is done and you like the consistency.

some things that should probaly go in it but that i didn’t have around:
red curry paste (or green. whichever)
fish sauce
cilantro
garlic
peas/corn

the key to this recipe is that it’s on the back of the thai kitchen red curry jar, but you can ad lib and still get away with it.