Eating In:Comfort Food-Part II: Cult of SloppyTots

By Kevin Grzyb in Food on Dec 15, 2005 7:45PM

In these dreary, gray days of bone chilling winds and slippery frozen sidewalks, we take great comfort in coming home and throwing together a hearty, hot meal without having to spend hours of prep work in the kitchen, before going out to shovel and salt and knock the two and a half foot long icicles off the gutters, so that they don't come crashing down on our heads. Here we bring to your attention one of our favorite concoctions of heart stopping, soul warming goodness: Sloppy Tots.

As the name invokes, they are a glorious combination of Tater Tots and good old sloppy joe. So here's what you need:
-One pound of ground beef
-One can of Manwhich Sloppy Joe Sauce
-One Package of Ore Ida Tater Tots
-Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream to Garnish

Preparation:
Cook Tater Tots as instructed, brown ground beef in a skillet and add sloppy joe sauce. Grate cheese.
Plating:
Arranges cooked Tater Tots on a plate add a couple of scoops of sloppy joe, garnish with grated cheddar cheese and sour cream.
We went a little fancy on our dual plating of this dish the other night, we took the sour cream and scooped a couple of spoonfuls into a freezer bag, pushed it down into on corner of the bag and twisted the zip-lock part to create a faux pastry frosting piping bag, we then nipped off the corner of the bag and jauntily added a playful topping of sour cream, causing one guest to extol that we had turned white trash into haut cuisine - we were humbled. The second plating was, well, for a two year old (see picture) and it worked.
For a wine pairing, we like to recommend beer.
Enjoy.