On witchiness

... and tater tot hot dish

In 2019, I got to do a live event with Madeline Miller, the author of Circe, one of my favorite novels. I have been raving about this book for a very long time, so many of you are already familiar with it, but in case you aren’t: The book is essentially an inversion of Homer’s The Odyssey, where Circe (the witch who turns Odysseus’ crew into pigs!) is the main character, and Odysseus just show up for a couple chapters. It’s a lush, wonderful book about many things, but the witchiness of it all is what I want to write about today.   

There is a video of my event with Madeline on the Chicago Humanities Fest website, which in this case is very helpful, because I would never have remembered exactly how I asked this question or how Madeline Miller answered it. All I remember is sitting on the stage thinking, “WOW, I LOVE THIS.”

It’s right at the end, after almost a solid hour of me gushing at her about her work. Just as you think I might be about to say thank you and goodbye, I ask, “Do you consider yourself to be at all witchy?”

And Madeline said, “Before I wrote Circe, I would have said no, But I have since come to feel that what it really means to be a witch is to be a woman who is wielding more power than society is comfortable with you having. And so I feel that we should all be witches. Even the men should also all be witches.”

I LOVE THIS SO F%(^*$& MUCH. It haunts me in the best possible way. A friend of a friend recently reminded me of it, because she was in the audience, and it stuck with her too.

I don’t think of myself as being hella witchy. I draw a tarot card now and then. I desperately need to buy some sage. I do wear a lot of black. But my dreams are usually super literal (I found out I was getting laid off, but I had to keep working! Oh right, that really  happened!), I’m not super up with what Mercury is up to, and I don’t see auras. 

I think that’s why I loved Madeline’s answer so much. It’s an expansion of the definition of witchiness to include pretty much everybody who’s DOING A THING, and I think that’s really lovely.  

It also makes me think of the characters in Frank Herbert’s Dune, who call witchiness “the weirding way,” which I also love. Because WHO ISN’T WEIRDING, AT LEAST A LITTLE, MOST OF THE TIME???  

On Tater Tot Hot Dish

You may have never heard of tater tot hot dish. After all, it is aggressively Minnesotan. 

It did recently hit the national news cycle when Vice President Kamala Harris nominated Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. Did you know he has an award-winning tater tot hot dish recipe??? His version is honestly quite zesty for a Midwestern potato casserole! 

It popped back up on my radar as I asked GRETAGRAM readers for their favorite fall recipes. Y’all have sent in some bangers, and they’ll all be in next week’s newsletter!

But when GRETAGRAM reader (and frequent Nerdette book club contributor) LIS IN MINNESOTA sent me an email ALL ABOUT TATER TOT HOT DISH, I knew we had to TALK ABOUT IT.

So here are the reflections of a true tater tot hot dish connoisseur, along with her recipe: 

Nothing screams fall food to me more than tater tot hot dish (and yes, it has to be Hot Dish, not casserole, even though they really are the same thing). The best time for tater tot hot dish is the first windy cool day of fall. I feel like it's one of those recipes for me that indicates a change of season.

I view this is as mix-and-match, choose-your-own adventure meal, which is my favorite way to cook.

Is it the cheese and potatoes that make it so good? the creaminess? Lots of veggies? A variety of ways to season?! I just can't explain it... but also it is so quintessentially Minnesotan that it is one of those meals that feels like home

Also, I highly recommend (and am pretty much telling you this is how you should do this) to make a double batch - one to eat for dinner that night and the other to put in your freezer. It is universally loved and it's perfect to pull out when one of our parents or other extended family comes over on a Saturday in the winter and ends up staying for dinner

Essentials - these amounts are per 9x12 pan of hot dish: 

• 1-2 cans of cream of celery soup (any cream of soup works, but celery is my go-to)

• 1 bag of tater tots (mini ones are the best)

• 2-3 bags of frozen vegetables such as edamame, corn, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower (NOTE ON FRESH VS FROZEN VEGGIES: Combining frozen and fresh veggies has resulted in uneven vegetable cooking with some being more mushy than expected. I feel like when I've attempted veggies such as brussel sprouts or asparagus to try to make it seem fancier, it just flops... it needs basic vegetables! Seasoning changes the taste in better ways than changing the vegetables.)

• 1 bag of shredded cheese

• 1 set of cooked + seasoned meat or meatless crumbles (optional)

Here's how I make mine... 

1. In a massive mixing bowl (the one I also use for Chex Mix), I combine 3 cans of cream of celery soup, 5 bags of frozen vegetables, and 1 "set" of cooked meatless crumbles (I season with salt, pepper, and Aleppo pepper).  

2. Add in some seasonings such as salt/pepper/dried herbs/garlic powder/dried minced onions - anything that you like the taste of works here. 

3. Once mixed well, pour half into one 9x12 pan and half of this mixture into the other 9x12 pan for freezing. Depending on the amount of tater tots I want (or cauliflower), I might put a layer of tater tots and/or cauliflower on the bottom of the pan before putting the mixture on top - it gets super soft and delicious.

4. Cover the eating pan top completely with tater tots. Bake at 400 for about 45 minutes, make sure the tater tots are crispy on top and the hot dish is starting to bubble and vegetables are soft if you put a fork in to test.  Then top with a bag of shredded cheese and put back into oven for about 10-15 minutes until cheese is melty.

5. For the pan that goes in the freezer, top with tater tots and wait to put cheese on until you're baking it in the future. Enjoy! 

I feel like people are really invested in their own tater tot hot dish tbh... so I'll be curious to know how this lands for other midwestern folk - especially as it's such a non-recipe.

Hope this is helpful!  and not too confusing! 

-Lis

Some quick GRETAGRAM business:

• This is the last call for your favorite fall recipes! I’m putting that together for next week!!!!! Email me your favorites!!!!! Gretamjohnsen at gmail dot com! 

• Book club is THIS SUNDAY! Let me know if you’d like the zoom link by sending me an email.

• In November we are reading Louise Erdrich’s new book The Mighty Red! The audiobook is narrated by my favorite narrator, Marin Ireland!!! But if you are more of a print person, I’m thrilled to report I have a copy of the book to give away! There are fewer than 300 paid subscribers, so your odds are not bad! I can’t tell you how many books I’ve given to people who tell me they never win anything. So! If you want in on this drawing, and all the others in the future, upgrade now! (Thank you!!!)

All right, I’ll see you next week, with a BOUNTY of fall recipes!

P.S. Do you like this email?! Spread the delight and forward it to a friend! (Or spam an enemy, lol!)