I shall begin this Dishing Up Memories with an admission of guilt, while I love potatoes, baked, mashed, sliced, diced, and in the form of french fries or hash browns, my all-time favorite is tater tots.
I’m not even sure why or where that comes from. I know we occasionally had them when I was growing up but whatever the reason they are like a tater treat to me. These little golden nuggets have a long history to boot.
Tater tots were first created in 1953 when Ore-Ida founders Nephi Grigg and Golden Grigg tried to figure out what to do with leftover slivers of cut-up potatoes. They came up with the basic idea of chopping up the potato slivers, adding flour and seasoning, then pushing the mash through holes, and slicing off pieces of what came out on the other side. They became available in grocery stores in 1956.
I am not alone in my love of tater tots, Americans consume approximately 70 million pounds of them a year. There’s even a National Tater Tot Day, February 2, which I suppose is overshadowed by those rodent weather predictors.
In Australia, tater tots are known as potato gems. I think that is very appropriate and, henceforth, I think I will refer to them as such.
Recently, I was perusing tater tot recipes on the Interweb, as some refer to it, and came across this gem. I thought, how bad can it be with ground beef, cheese, and tater tots. It was a hit! I will make it again.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 32 ounces package frozen tater tots
- 2 cups cheddar or Colby jack cheese, shredded
- 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1/4 cup green onions, sliced
Instructions
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Preheat an oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
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Cook the ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat until completely browned, 5 to 7 minutes, then drain any additional fat.
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Add in the Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup and whisk together.
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Let the mixture cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
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Put a layer of tater tots along the bottom of the pan then pour the meat mixture over the tater tots.
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Cover with the cheese and half the bacon.
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Cover with remaining tater tots and bake for 40 minutes until the top is browned and bubbly.
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Garnish with remaining bacon and green onions.
My family loved this tater tot casserole, however, I have filed it in my recipe collection notebook as comfort food which means it will be a holdover for the cooler months of fall.
Make it now or save the recipe for later but give it a try. The recipe says it’s kid-friendly. Don’t tell the kids but adults will love it too!
