Tater Tot Hot Dish (vegan)

Tater Tot Hot Dish (or Casserole to non-Minnesotans) is a classic dish to those of us in the mid-west. Dense and full of veggies and cream of mushroom soup, along with ground beef, cheese and tater tots, this is a dish anyone in Minnesota especially was always excited to see for dinner in their childhood (heck, adult life too). I have been making this vegan for a couple years now, sometimes with sweet potato tots, as well as with homemade hashbrowns on top instead of tots to health it up a bit. This time I changed it up by making my usual mushroom roux/gravy (to replace the cream of mushroom soup) with NO OIL! This drops the calories of the dish by about 500 calories. This makes the fact that I'm still eating tater tots a bit less guilt inducing. Plus, if you divide the dish up into 12 servings you're really only eating one serving of tots and a bunch of veggies. Not too shabby!

Typically, a roux or gravy is made with a 1:1 ratio of flour and oil (or butter) cooked together until it stops smelling like playdough and smells more like pie crust. Then you add broth or water to turn it into a gravy. I didn't want to use a bunch of oil if I could avoid it, so I used a Dry Roux method to get the same taste. Instead, you just bake the flour to cook it then use it with the broth to thicken it and still give it that great roux flavor. 

Plus, like I said, you could always make some hashbrowns with just a little oil and cut the calories down even more. It all depends on how much work you want to put into it. The gravy takes the most time to make, but the rest is super quick. Just line the bottom of the baking dish with whatever beef replacement you want, top with 20 or so ounces of frozen veggies, pour the gravy over it all, sprinkle some dairy free cheese, top with tots and another sprinkle of cheese and bake!

I usually use the vegan ground "beef" from Trader Joe's, but this time I used some from the new vegan butcher shop in the Twin Cities called the Herbivorous Butcher. You could also just cook some lentils and use them in place of veggie grounds. I like to use a basic organic frozen veggie mix of carrots, peas, and green beans. I also used Daiya cheddar cheese shreds, but you can use whatever type you want, or could skip the cheese altogether.

Feel free to toss in any herbs or spices you like as well! Sometimes I'll top this with chives, smoked paprika, chipotle, parsley, or any other flavor that I'm craving. You could also add a smidge of liquid smoke to the gravy once it is done to give it a slight bacon-y flavor.

When you bake the Dry Roux flour, it will look like this when you take it out of the oven.

 

The thickened gravy:

The finished hotdish! Look at those tasty veggies!

Tater Tot Hot Dish:
serves 8-12

12oz - 1 lb veggie "beef" crumbles (any brand)
20-24oz frozen vegetables (any you'd like, but traditionally carrots, peas and green beans)
1 package vegan cheddar cheese shreds
1 small bag of tater tots
1 cup green onions, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
1 batch mushroom gravy
 
Mushroom Gravy:
1 lb baby bella mushrooms (also known as crimini mushrooms), sliced
1/4 c Dry Roux flour (recipe follows)
1/4 c nutritional yeast
2 cups vegetable broth 
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup Marsala wine
salt and pepper, to taste


To make the gravy:
1. Dry Roux: Make this before starting the onions! Bake 1 cup of flour spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 400 degrees F for 45 min to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, until light brown, and remove from oven. It should be a little lighter than peanut butter.*

2. Water saute the onions until golden by cooking them on medium high and adding 1 tbsp of water when needed to keep them from sticking to the pan. Add garlic and continue to water saute another minute. Add mushrooms and allow to cook down, stirring occasionally, until the liquid that  comes out of the mushrooms is mostly gone.

3. While the onions, garlic and mushrooms cook, bring 2 cups of vegetable broth to a boil, and then add the flour and nutritional yeast. Whisk until combined to make sure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil and continue to whisk occasionally until thickened. It will be a little thin, but it will continue to thicken as it cools.

4. Deglaze the mushrooms: add the marsala to the mushrooms and cook on medium, stirring to loosen the cooked down parts that were stuck to the pan. Cook until about half of the liquid has evaporated, then add it to the gravy.

5. Stir mushroom mixture and gravy mix together and add salt and pepper to taste. It helps to be a little on the salty side, since it will be spread over all the vegetables as well.

To assemble Hot Dish:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress F. Cook ground "beef" according to packaged instructions, then pour it to line the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

2. Pour frozen vegetables over "beef" and evenly spread them out. Sprinkle on the green onions and diced jalapeno as well.

3. Pour mushroom gravy over vegetables and evenly spread it out as well.

4. Sprinkle half the bag of vegan cheese over everything evenly.

5. Line the frozen tater tots in rows over everything evenly, trying to fill in all gaps.

6. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the tots and put into the oven to bake for 50 minutes, or until tots are golden and cheese is gooey. Serve hot, with ketchup if you wish.

* You could make just the 1/4 cup of flour in the oven, but I like to make more at once so it is ready the next time I make hot dish or gravy. If you just make 1/4 cup it won't take as long to cook.