Hot Brass Hot Dish - Growing up Lutheran

Hot Dish - if you are of Scandahoovian heritage as I am (with equal amounts of Celt thrown in). You know what hot dish is, the bastard offspring of leftovers and a can of cream of something soup.

It's common in Scandahoovian cooking and a veritable staple in the Lutheran Church Basement dinners that were a big part of my childhood. Hot Dishes were an easy, economical way to put supper on the table as well as use up leftovers on hand.

Ever have a craving for a warm, hearty hot dish? You too might be part Scandahoovian. Here is a short test.

1) Lutefisk is to food as ___________ is to fun.
A. a singles cruise with the Democratic party
B. Hazardous Waste Clean up
C. a colonoscopy

(2) Finish this sentence. "Ya. . . "
A. " sure, you betcha"
B. "you can say that again"
C. "let's go spend money".


(3) You have gotten into a disagreement with the customs agent at Oslo and accidentally call him a Quisling. What do you do now?
A. Hold up the Scandahoovian/English tourist dictionary and apologize profusely
B. Pray he didn't hear you
C. Nothing. Die with your boots on

For me, hot dish was, and still is, comfort food. Some of the earliest discoveries of the hot dish were going to ladies church functions with my Mom, held in the basement of the Lutheran church. Of course there were always the baked goods, rolls, breads cookies. The smell of fresh cardamom bread takes me back there in only moments, and I still make it for Sunday breakfast sometime.


But what sticks out in my memory today was all of the hot dishes laid out by the women on the tables, invariably covered with tater tots, bacon bits, chow mein noodles, almonds (but only for confirmations) , hard boiled eggs or crushed potato chips. Macaroni was almost always involved. And there was a "Cream of" soup as a binder for about everything. Cream of Asparagus, Cream of Mushroom. Cream of Chicken. Cream of Herring. You tried a little bit of everyone's cooking, making the appropriate noises. If you were polite you would ask for the recipe ,which in Norwegian translated to "Wow, how do get perfectly good food to taste like this?"

People always asked my Mom was the recipe. My Mom was a Deputy Sheriff. Mom had auburn hair and was 5 foot 11. She got asked for her recipes a lot.


Of course there was always the accompanying jello salad, often made in decorative molds. Including the infamous green one that included shredded carrots and mayo. (shudder). The church ladies would be quite competitive in the jello molding division. I did discover that you could mold the jello quite creatively if you cooled it with liquid nitrogen (available anywhere fine artificial insemination products are sold), creating something that would rival an ice sculpture. But Mom said No. (she also said no to the 8 mm Mauser for Show and Tell as well.)

But now, although jello is only a quivering memory, I still like hot dish. But I add some HOTR touches, that the Luthern Church women never would have thought of. Comfort is good but I don't want my food to be so bland as to be hypoallergenic. I think Mom and the ladies would approve.


It starts with Homemade Cream of Cluck Soup . It's less than the cost of the canned stuff and 10 times better, as well as having MUCH less sodium. It's the perfect base for hot dish made from leftover beer can chicken. Roasted garlic gives it a very nice, rounded flavor.

Make it ahead and freeze it and then just thaw out what you will need for a recipe. I bet if you look in your refrigerator you have the makings of a hot dish.


Hot Brass Hot Dish.

1 can of store soup or 1/4 recipe of the homemade cream of cluck
8 ounces sour cream
1/3 cup milk or half and half
4 shakes of the dried red pepper jar (or more if you are daring)
1/4 teaspoon of Penzey's Ozark seasoning (or any savory type seasoning you like).
a grind or two of black pepper
if you're using the (bleh) canned soup, add a good pinch of garlic powder .
2 cups leftover roasted chicken
1 and 1/2 cups mixed vegetables, thawed and drained.

Mix and put in a 13 x 9 pan, cover with shredded sharp or smoked cheddar (I didn't measure, just a light coating on everything).


Make a box of Stove Top stuffing as directed (on the "sit 3-5 minutes part" of the directions go for 3 minutes or slightly less, as it will dry out some on baking). I used the chicken flavored mix and added an extra pinch of parsley and sage. Dollop or spread it out on top of the creamy chicken mixture and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes

It's not going to win any photo contests, but it was really good (with or without a jello sculpture of a 1911).

click to enlarge the photos, it's prettier close up.