Hotdish Dissed (Posted 11/18/08)
Despite my competitive nature, I’m not one to aim high. I don’t strive to win a Pulitzer or a State Fair blue ribbon in the livestock category or anything that, if I reach too high, I risk pulling out my back. I like to take my very mediocre skill set and apply it to things I might have a chance of succeeding in, like competitive skeeball and hotdog cheerleading.
Most recently, this involved a casserole competition. Considering the competition was in New York, and casseroles (heretofore referred to by their native “hotdish”) are Midwestern by nature, I figured East Coasters would arrive with some sushi/bagel number in their Pyrex, and I would have this thing in the bag. And here’s where the horn-tooting begins: I make a killer hotdish. My tater tot hotdish has brought women to their knees and men to my bed. It makes children sing and babies stop crying. When it comes to curing cancer, studies show that my hotdish has a higher success rate than Chuck Norris’s tears.
I took this competition very seriously. I spent a month creating a recipe that was true to my Wisconsin roots, one that featured my native state’s most revered ingredients: beer, cheese and brats. I used green vegetables and yellow cheddar for a quiet shout-out to the Packers. I smuggled cheese curds back from Wisconsin and trekked all the way to the Pathmark on the Lower East Side to find Johnsonville Brats and Milwaukee’s Best. I made the hotdish several times, listened to feedback, and tweaked the dish until it was perfect. And it was.
Unfortunately, the judges did not agree and awarded the prize (a Le Creuset casserole dish!) to Team Caulifornication, who created some bullshit cauliflower hotdish. Excuse me if I sound like a sore loser, but…I so am. I’m also a hotdish purist; if it doesn’t have assloads of cheese and meat and hypertension, then it simply isn’t a hotdish. But at least I can take consolation in the fact that of the 28 dishes, mine was the first to be totally gobbled up. So I may not have a shiny new Le Creuset in my cabinet, but I did warm the tummies—and probably, raised the blood pressure—of the other entrants. So can I crown myself the Miss Congeniality of Hotdish? Too late, I already did.
To see a video of the event (my dish got a few small shouts!), click here. To make my non-award-winning hotdish yourself, follow the recipe below.
MISS LAURA LEU’S HEARTLAND HOTDISH
Brats, beer and cheese: The best of the Dairy State on one plate!
Ingredients
5-6 Johnsonville Brats
1 onion, chopped
2 cans Milwaukee’s Best
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
1 4.5-oz can of chopped green chilies, drained
2 cans cream soup of your choosing (I prefer cream of chicken and cream of mushroom)
1 tsp. Worcestershire
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
10 shakes Tabasco
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
3 cups frozen diced potatoes
1 12-oz bag cheese curds (available at Murray’s or in Wisconsin gas stations. Shredded cheddar may be substituted)
Frozen onion rings
Directions
- Poke brats with fork and add to pot with 1/4 cup of onions. Add beer until they’re covered and simmer for 30 minutes. Chug any beer that’s remaining.
- Remove brats from beer and stick under broiler for one minute on each side or until browned. Chop into bite size pieces and reserve beer for cheese-soup mixture.
- Saute garlic, onions, green pepper and celery in large skillet or wok for four minutes or until onions are translucent.
- Add green chilies, Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, Tabasco, 2 cans soup, and 1 cup of beer from brat boil. Cook until simmering.
- Add shredded cheese slowly, stirring until it’s melted. Add chopped brats and frozen potatoes.
- Pour into casserole dish. Layer with cheese curds and onions rings. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
