Tater Tot Casserole Remixed

As my good friend Robert says, "You can take the boy out of Kansas, but you can't take Kansas out of the boy." Sometimes, you just crave dishes from back home. However, there's a big problem with trying to recreate favorites like tuna casserole in Paris - some ingredients don't exist. One is forced to improvise. So, tonight while Chris was away on a business dinner, I remixed tater tot casserole.

The dish is fairly simple. Mix together a can of grean beans, some hamburger, a bit of cream of mushroom soup and top with tater tots. France has the grean beans (but ironically not the french style I prefer). They don't, however, sell condensed soup - nor do they consider offering tater tots. But as I've learned over the past few weeks, you can convert fromage blanc (consider it whipped cottage cheese) and a little bit of milk into a base for cream of mushroom soup (as well as the essential ingredient for those packets of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing that make a delicious white trash salad). Switch whipped potatoes for the crunchy taters on top and you have yourself tater tot casserole a la Francais.

Chris suggested I begin capturing my creations for a "White Trash in Paris" cookbook. Not a bad idea. Somebody needs to teach the French how to cook.