Ever heard of "Hot Dish"???

I hadn't, but some folks I know where talking about this midwest dish and how good it is.

Sounded easy enough.

I went out on the interwebz and found there are a lot of different recipies for "hot dish", so I made a variation for dinner tonight.

Really easy, this 'hot dish' thing!

So what I made was basically a ham and cheese dish.

I had a box of Mac shells left over from some powdered cheese the wife used last weekend, I had a ham steak in the frig and some frozen veggies in the freezer. I needed to buy a whole can of cream of mushroom soup at the store ($0.69) and some cheddar cheese.

It came out FANTASTIC!!! (even the wife loved it!!)

Recipe...

Mac noodles cooked and drained
2 C ham steak chopped into 1" cubes (or less)
1/2 chopped onion
1 stalk of celery thin sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small handfull of SW veggies (w/ black eyed peas, corn and green beans)
2 TBS Pimento peppers
1 C plain yogurt
1 shot of Sherry (not cooking Sherry)
1/2 C grated cheddar + 1/2 C more (reserved)
S&P

-Preheat oven to 375
-Cooked the noodles, drained and set aside.
-Sauteed the onions and celery 5-6 min (in DO)
-Dumped in the ham and sauteed for 2-3 more minutes
-Dumped in the soup, yogurt, veggies, pimentos and the shot of Sherry.
-Mixed all ingredients and added 1/2 C cheese
-covered DO and cooked in oven at 375 for 25 minutes
-uncovered DO and added rest of cheese on top, cooked or another 5-6 minutes.

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! Staggeringly good!!! Talk about "comfort food!!"

Strongly recommend!



P.S. I added a little Louisiana Hot Sauce over mine upon serving. Off the hook!!

Ever heard of "Hot Dish"???

In my neck of the woods we call it a casserole.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I've had a hot dish, but I'm not the type to kiss and tell

a reply to: Lurker1

Pretty much!

But I went with the traditional name, ....just to add flavor.

The recipe I had called for cream cheese, but I added plain (Greek) yogurt instead. Cream cheese breaks too easy and then it's nasty. Plus the yogurt added a really nice flavor to it!

The Sherry was also an addition. Generally, undiluted cream of mushroom soup is too thick when cooked. A whole cup of water is too thin, but a good shot of Sherry fixes all that, to a perfect consistency!

I'll be this would be even better with some fresh mushrooms in it too!!! Yum!!

(maybe next time)

Got lunch tomorrow though!!!

originally posted by: Lurker1

Ever heard of "Hot Dish"???

In my neck of the woods we call it a casserole.

Pretty much this. From what I understand of it, it's the upper Midwest/Minnesota-specific term for a typically saucy casserole or a baked dish. Like green bean casserole, tater tot casserole, or baked mac & cheese, etc. Same thing, different regional lingo is all.

From what I've seen of recipes, it's pretty similar to a pot pie, really. The crust (or rather, lack thereof) being the difference.

Edit: Before I forget, "hot dish" typically contains some form or another of meat, too. Depending on who you ask & where they're from in the MW, some will say it's crucial, while others will say it's optional.

Sounds delish FCD . I ‘m going to try the recipe. Would be good with a baked crust on top as well.

Good to see you on the forum.. I was wondering if you had a ranch accident there for a bit. No thread from you in awhile. Glad you’re ok.

a reply to: Sheye

Top, maybe yes, but I wouldn't go top and bottom though.

I just used the baked cheese as the top and it was outrageous!! (in a good way)

Sounds like a casserole to me too. You can throw all sorts of those things together, get creative with leftovers. The only thing you need a recipe for is cooking time and temperature. The wife, she likes recipes, I come from a family of creaters, we are only bound by ingredient compatability issues, that is a learned behavior, after you throw away some of your creations you learn not to make the same mistakes again. My wife is banned from getting recipes of Pinterest.

It was called "kitchen surprise" when I was a kid.
You basically take what you have and make it into a dish.
The charm of "kitchen surprise" is that there is no recipe.
Sometimes it comes out really good.
It's always a gamble.

In Minnesota you take a hot dish to a church supper, family with a new baby, sick people etc. When I moved there from Georgia, it at first was confusing to me.

In that upper midwest, it meant any dish with any multitude of thrown together veggies, meats, cheese on top and that all important Cambell's cream of mushroom soup.

A fan of children, stuffed with lots of calories and bad stuff for your arteries. Haven't had to make one in over 20 years.

Oh sure, it's just a northern name for casserole. My hubby is from North Dakota and they all call it hot dish. Some of them are horrific mixes of processed junk, but I do like some. Tator tot casserole/hot dish for example I love!

I gotta be honest, a can of condensed cream of anything soup scares the bejeezus out of me. An easy substitute is a simple bechamel sauce: butter/flour roux, chicken stock and a touch of heavy cream. Season with salt, pepper and a touch of poultry seasoning.

Much healthier, in the sense that you actually know what goes into it.

As far as hot dish goes, this is just another name for casserole. Quite common in the Midwest and south.

Damn, this thread is making me hungry, I don't feel like eating at twelve thirty at night either. a casserole sure would be good right now, even some tuna casserole.

I may just have to go down and throw together a PB&J sandwich

originally posted by: rickymouse
even some tuna casserole.

I may just have to go down

Take my wife, please.

It's hotdish, one word (I really don't care, just trying to be respectful to those lutefisk munchers). That word should just be casserole.

Pretty good. I guess. I sort of prefer my food separated so I can mash it all together at my own discretion. When I was a kid I really liked tuna casserole. Made it not too long ago and discovered I can't deal with tuna any more. Same thing with salmon, which is unfortunate.

a reply to: skunkape23

Kitchen Surprise - you’re lucky we had “Shut up and get it down yer!”

Never the same twice and not nice once

originally posted by: skunkape23
It was called "kitchen surprise" when I was a kid.
You basically take what you have and make it into a dish.
The charm of "kitchen surprise" is that there is no recipe.
Sometimes it comes out really good.
It's always a gamble.

"Clean out the refrigerator suprise" was a weekly event in our house growing up.

Since it was usually mexican type food, it was always pretty good.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

How much of the macaroni shells?

You said a box..is that a Kraft dinner regular sized box ?

A dish from my younger days that is along the lines of a casserole, but cooked on the stove top. We called it "Train Wreck"

- 2 regular boxes kraft mac n cheese
- 2 cans ranch style beans, drain 1 can and keep juice from one can
- 1 can corn
- 1 can green beans
- 1 lb ground beef, seasoned with taco seasoning

Follow directions to prepare the mac and cheese. While its boiling brown the hamburger meat. Once the mac n cheese is done stir in the drained hamburger meat, corn, ranch beans, and green beans and heat thoroughly.

Serve with bread and butter, maybe a beer.