Being that Tuesday was Dave’s birthday, I chose a menu for this week’s swap with three of Dave’s Favs:
– Chicken & Tater Tots Casserole
– Roasted Broccoli
– Chipwich
Chicken & Tater Tots Casserole
This casserole is the only one I make. I am not a casserole person (for one, I’m Indian and never had the stuff growing up) but created this dish in an attempt to recreate the flavors that went into Dave’s childhood favorite meal: Hamburger Pie. Dave’s best friend’s mother, Mrs. Mac, made this dish (and quite often) for the hoard of boys who regularly spent afternoons at her house. Gauging from the dozen or so childhood stories about Dave and his love of Hamburger Pie, it’s safe to say that he was among the biggest fan of this dish.
Now, all I know about Mrs. Mac’s Hamburger Pie is that it contains ground beef and tater tots. So, a few years ago I found inspiration from these two ingredients (substituting the ground beef with ground chicken) and created this dish. Each time I’ve made it, I find it alright but Dave *loves* it…even though, apparently, it’s nothing like Mrs. Mac’s version. Since I’ve started making it for the kids, we found another fan: Kavya.
As for how to make it, I haven’t yet set a recipe down for this. Roughly speaking, it’s basically a pound of sauteed ground chicken mixed with 1 can mushroom soup, one medium onion (chopped and sauteed), one cup carrots (chopped and sauteed), 2-3 tablespoons sour cream, a third of a bag of frozen tater tots, dried thyme leaves, garam masala, one bunch scallions chopped, salt and pepper. The mixture goes in a baking dish with crushed corn flakes on top with a drizzle of oil (or melted butter). The baking dish then goes in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees. And for me, the end result is one happy husband and daughter!
Roasted Broccoli
Dave’s favorite vegetable is broccoli. This preparation is just bite-sized broccoli pieces drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and then roasted at 425 degrees for ~8-10 minutes. Sometimes, I’ll add some lemon zest, or melted butter, or melted butter with lemon zest…depending on what the rest of the meal looks like.
Chipwich
And as for chipwichs…Dave could (and for a while in college did) survive on them! Again, many stories from Dave’s childhood concerning his love of chipwich. Instead of buying it at my local store, I decided to make (at least a part of it) at home. I used this awesome recipe from the Ree Drummond to make the cookies. The other ingredients (vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles) I picked up from the store.
To prepare the chipwichs:
– Once the cookies are completely cool, scoop some vanilla ice cream (on the flat side) of one cookie.
– Smoosh ice cream with another cookie.
– Cover exposed ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.
The Verdict
Tuesday Night: We had Dave’s Birthday Dinner tonight. My parents came over for the meal too. Dave, my father and Kavya thoroughly enjoyed the casserole (Kavya had 4 helpings!). Dessert was completely over-the-top: We had the chipwichs and then a birthday cake. We don’t usually have any dessert so this was completely unusual…kids were confused but amused by the turn of events. Overall, Papa’s Birthday Party turned out to be a treat only for Papa but also for the rest of us as well.
Thursday Night: For a variety of reasons, we ended up having Heather’s dinner on Thursday night this week. As I suspected, Alex (my lover of all beans) loved the entire meal! He kept saying “Mmm, mmm, mmm, I love cornbread!” This, after he diligently picked out every single bean from his chili and gobbled it up. After finishing his beans and bread….he then proceeded to haggle with Kavya to get all her beans. Kavya started eating the chili but once she got taste of the cornbread, her chili was forgotten….couldn’t get her back on track. She asked to have the bread in her lunchbox for the next day. Dave and I enjoyed ALL parts of the meal…including the yummy veggies. Thanks, Heather! That was great!
