The recipe is simple. Had I actually grown up in Minnesota, I most certainly would not have been amazed by it's elegant mix of ground beef and egg noodles, a fresh onion and a can of creamed corn. And the tomato soup. Can't forget the can of tomato soup. That's, what, like two vegetables, a fruit, some grain (sort of), and meat. It's like a complete well-balanced meal that you can pretty much cook anywhere. How perfect is that? The only food group we're missing is dairy.
More on that later.
Had I not grown up in Seattle, I probably would have realized that "Hot Dish" wasn't some clever name that Jane had come up with for a taste sensation that's served, well, hot, but that it was the ubiquitous name for an infinite number of variations of the noodle/meat/vegetable casseroles that are served at potlucks and church socials and company picnics all across The Land of 10,000 Lakes.
But I didn't know. To me, this was a special recipe, a super secret family recipe, so simple and quick and easy.
Here it is, from the kitchen of Jane O'Dell. I actually had to call home my freshman year at Carleton because I'd forgotten one of the ingredients. Twice.
1 lb ground beefThis was the meal that I'd asked Dad and Jane to bring to me near the end of the month, when my body was finally telling me that we were ready to consume some favorite solid foods.
1 med yellow onion, chopped (Walla Walla sweets are my personal favorite)
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream corn
1 16 oz pkg egg noodles
- Boil the noodles as per the package instructions.
- Brown the beef.
- Either grill the onion in the fat from the beef, pushing the nearly-browned meat into a wide circle around the outside of the pan, or -- my preferred method -- grill it in a separate pan with a little butter.
- In a large baking (or casserole) dish, mix all of the ingredients together, including the cooked noodles.
- Cover the dish with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Salt to taste
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