Tater-Tot Hot Dish

Growing up in South Dakota, a staple of church suppers and potlucks was the tater-tot hot dish. Meaty, potato-y, mushroomy, and satisfying. My friend R. also enjoyed this casserole when growing up in North Dakota. R. and I got to talking about the various foods mixed in with this dish, and how to prepare it correctly (essentials: ground beef, tater tots, cream of mushroom soup), and I casually mentioned that I could probably gourmet it up a bit. Oooh! Sacrilege! But now R. is back in town, and has challenged me to do it, and bring it to a dinner party tonight.

A little background-- I once went up against a bevy of North Dakotans, including R., in a lefse-making contest. If you want to know who won you could probably ask any North Dakotan because I'm sure this tale of Shame-- losing to a South Dakotan!-- spread throughout the state.

So I made it this afternoon, and in genuine casserole fashion all it needs is to be heated up in the oven before eating. However I am worried about it. It's not exactly what I planned to make, and I'm not sure people will like it. People like beef and tater-tots. Will they like goat, wild mushrooms, and a tater-tot hot dish that omits tater-tots? It sounds icky to me even typing it.

ORIGINAL BASIC RECIPE, Tater-Tot Hot Dish--

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag tater tots
shredded cheese
1 lb of ground hamburger meat
serves: 6 or 7

Brown hamburger meat. Add cream of mushroom soup and stir together
continuously.

Let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

Place mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay tater tots neatly on
top of the mixture.

Place in oven on 350' and let the tater tots brown.

Sprinkle with cheese; melt it in the oven and ENJOY.

WHAT I DID TODAY
Went to the farmers market and got organic, hand-dug potatoes and onions, local cheddar, local wild mushrooms.

Shredded potatoes. Cooked them in a large pan with olive oil on medium for a long time until brown, then flipped the whole mess and cooked the other side for a bit. Added a pinch of salt. Basically, I made hash browns.

Browned one pound of ground goat meat on medium in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil. I thought it was buffalo but it was goat. Got it at the farmers market a couple weeks ago (frozen) and I thought it was bison. Oh well. Next time I'll use bison, because it's the Dakotan thing to do. Goat is weird.

When the goat started to brown I added a diced onion. Also added one chopped up buffalo/pork/fennel sausage, hoping to mask the goat taste, and cooked all that. Added half a pound of wild Virginia mushrooms. Added a handful of frozen peas, so at least we can pretend it's healthy now. (I remember some versions of this casserole added broccoli, probably for the same reason, to enable you to say it has veggies in it so it must be good for you.) Cooked them a bit. Added minced fresh sage and thyme from the garden, salt, pepper, splash of white wine, and at the end, a quarter cup (or was it a half cup?) of whole cream.

Poured all that into a casserole dish and arranged the hash browns on top. Stuck under the broiler for two minutes because I wanted the taters browner.

Took it out, added half a pound of shredded aged cheddar to the top. I will warm this up in the oven later tonight. It looks like a normal casserole, but... I'll update later on what people said about it.

UPDATE AFTER THE DINNER
It didn't get rave reviews, however it was the first food item to be eaten up completely.
Most people were disgusted when I told them it was goat. Yet it made them think because they knew they enjoyed it. Happy confusion was the reaction from most people. "I really liked it but you're lying about the goat, right?"

Did I mention it was the first dish finished? So it was the most popular dish until I told people it was goat, after it was devoured and gone. Then there was a short period where they were disturbed, followed by acceptance, resolution, admitting they liked goat, etc. It was like a 12-step program for the goat-averse.

Definitely bison next time.