Not Yo Mama's Minnesota Hot Dish

I know I'm a little late with my posts.  I have just been incredibly busy at the office, leaving me with just a small window of time for friends.  Last night, I got a chance to see my lovely friend, Angie and it's therapeutic to catch up with her and talk about a whole lot of nothing.  Well nothing is what we tell our boys.  :)

Some of the dishes I make are inspired by my two mums.  That's Jase's mama, Flo on the left and my mama, Lynn on the right.  And the thing they have in common other than being our mothers is that they both have really big toes.  Thanks for the hereditary genes mums.  Now our babies will have big toes too but it's okay.  We still love you! 

Our mama's are the heart of the kitchen.  The first thing we want when we stop by their home is a nice hot dish by Mama Flo and Mama Lynn.  This week, Jase reminded me of how much he missed his mama's Minnesota Hot Dish.  So naturally, I tried to tweak the dish with vegetarian ingredients.  Mama Flo usually makes the MN Hot Dish with ground beef, cream of mushroom soup and tater tots.  My version includes ground seitan or ground tofu, some kale, hash brown potatoes and a frozen pie crust.  Mama Flo doesn't serve her hot dish with a pie crust but my version is slightly salty and the flaky pie crust balances out the flavors nicely.

Not Yo Mama's Minnesota Hot Dish

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance Butter
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped brown onion
• 1 cup ground firm tofu (I prefer the tofu version) or ground seitan (I use TJ's Beefless ground beef)
• 1 tablespoon vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon of vegetarian bouillon powder
• 1 kale leaf thinly sliced
• 1 cup chopped crimini or white button mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
• 1 cup cream of mushroom soup (see my non-dairy version here)
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper or ground black pepper (Mama Flo does not like it spicy so I use black pepper for her dish)
• 3 cups of frozen shredded hash browns (I use Trader Joe's Shredded Hash Browns found in the frozen section)
• 1 frozen pie crust (whole wheat crust is yummy too)
• 1/2 cup grated or shredded non-dairy cheese (I use Follow Your Heart Vegan Cheddar or Mozzarella Cheese)
• 1/4 dried parsley flakes (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. On a heated skillet, add butter, minced garlic and onion.  Stir until onions are translucent.
3. Add tofu/seitan, vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, tamari, nutritional yeast, vegetarian bouillon powder to the skillet and stir for about 3 minutes.
4. Add mushrooms, kale, bell pepper, peas, carrots and stir until the kale is slightly wilted (about 2 minutes)
5. Turn off stove.  Fold in cream of mushroom soup, paprika and cayenne/black pepper to the mixture.
6. Pour the mixture into a frozen pie crust and sprinkle the frozen shredded hash browns over the mixture.  Cover the mixture completely with shredded hash browns.  You want to pack the shredded hash brown into a mound over the top because the potatoes will shrink after it bakes.   
7. Cover the entire pie with foil to keep the crust from browning and to slightly steam the potatoes on top of the pie. 
8. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees. After 35 minutes, take the foil off of the pie. 
9. Top with some grated/shredded non-dairy cheese, sprinkle with dried parsley flakes and broil uncovered pie for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
10. Cut into wedges and serve!  The tofu mixture falls apart easily so I use a large spoon to serve.

Steaming hot ground seitan, kale, and mushroom mixture in frozen pie crust.

Mound of shredded hash brown and sprinkled with nutritional yeast flakes instead of cheese.

MN hot dish with shredded cheddar cheese.

MN hot dish with shredded mozarella and dried parsely flakes.