Witchy Kitchen

Tag: midwestern

  • Northwoods Nachos with Badger Sauce

    Northwoods Nachos with Badger Sauce

    Jennifer’s Body may have flopped when it came out in 2009, but 10 years later it is finally getting the respect it deserves. Diablo Cody’s script is sharp and snappy, and Karyn Kusama’s direction is slick. Regardless of what you thought you knew about Megan Fox, she is brilliant as man-eating cheerleader Jennifer. It’s a biting (literally) rape revenge film, that also reflects on society’s questionable reactions to tragedy, and the painful dynamic of female friendships. But it’s also wildly campy and entertaining, ripping through all the typical high school tropes. 

    Food is used throughout the movie to highlight place – Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota, how apt – and theme. Sweet small-town girl Needy (Amanda Seyfried) makes fried bologna sandwiches and offers them to her ferret. Her boyfriend is excited to take her to the Cheesecake Factory before the school dance. The layered red, white and blue Twin Towers shooters Jennifer procures from the bar look as tasty as they are absolutely tasteless. And then, of course, there is the rotisserie chicken that Needy’s mom bought from Boston Market that Jennifer rips into like an animal the night she comes back changed. 

    Another food mention comes as Needy is begging Jennifer to come home with her and not leave with the band in their creepy white van. The “Northwoods Nachos with Extra Badger Sauce” she tries to tempt her with sound great, but unfortunately were not enough to snap Jennifer out of her trance. They do, however, perfectly encapsulate the quirk of the film and the Midwest setting of Devil’s Kettle, so that’s what we’re making for our recipe!

    These Northwoods Nachos take a cue from a classic Midwestern comfort food. “Hotdish” is a casserole, often cheesy, and always topped with crispy tater tots, so we are using tater tots as our base. This makes these nachos, or should I say totchos, charmingly trashy. They are topped with spicy, saucy black beans (bonus movie tie in if you mix in some shredded rotisserie chicken; I served it on the side to keep these vegetarian). 

    For the Badger Sauce I made a beer cheese sauce appropriate for the area. I used Alton Brown’s recipe for rarebit, and stirred in a can of diced green chilis to make a spicy Minnesota queso. Drizzle some on top, and there’s plenty extra for dipping. 

    Northwoods Nachos with Badger Sauce

    For the Northwoods Nachos 

    • 1 pound frozen tater tots
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 onion, chopped
    • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
    • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon coriander
    • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
    • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
    • 1 14.5 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
    • 1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed 
    • 1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (optional)
    • Badger Sauce (see below)
    • Optional garnishes: green onions, pico de gallo, salsa, sour cream

    Cook the tater tots according to package directions in a large casserole dish. Keep warm.

    Heat olive oil on medium-high and fry onion until golden. Stir in garlic and fry another minute or so, then add cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until they are well broken down and starting to caramelize. Add black beans (and shredded chicken if using), and a cup of water. Mix well, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or so until thick, adding more water if necessary. 

    Spoon on top of tater tots, drizzle with Badger Sauce, and garnish.

    For the Badger Sauce

    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
    • Pinch coarse salt and some fresh cracked pepper
    • 1/4 cup beer (the darker the better)
    • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
    • 1 cup shredded cheddar 
    • 1 4.5 ounce can diced green chilis

    On low heat in a saucepan, heat butter and flour, whisking continuously for several minutes (do not let it brown). Add in dijon, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and stir until combined. Stir in beer and heavy cream, then add cheddar. Cook, whisking constantly until cheese is melted and mixture is thick, about 5-7 minutes. Add a little cream to loosen it if necessary, and stir in diced green chilis. Drizzle over Northwoods Nachos and serve extra on the side. 

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.

  • Annie Wilkes’s MISERY Meatloaf

    Annie Wilkes’s MISERY Meatloaf

    Annie Wilkes may be one of the most deceptively terrifying characters in fiction, flipping from attentive nurse to unhinged fanatic in a sublime performance by Kathy Bates in the 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery. She’s a fearsome villain, but also complex, with many good qualities. She’s tenacious, lively, a voracious reader, skilled in medicine, critical of profanity, kind to animals, and to top it off it turns out she can cook!

    Her home-cooked meatloaf is unique and lovingly prepared. You can’t find something like that in a restaurant in New York! And she’s not stingy with her secrets either. When asked, she offers “My secret is I always use fresh tomatoes, never canned, and to give it that extra zip I mix a little Spam with the ground beef!” 

    Now who knows how Annie Wilkes is procuring fresh tomatoes in snowbound Colorado, but in between all her stalking and hobbling, she gets it done. One trick I’ve learned for better year-round tomatoes, is to use romas (which have a longer season than other varieties) and to slow roast them. Somehow roasting makes even subpar tomatoes scrumptious. If you are as energetic as farmer Annie, you can roast summer tomatoes, then freeze and store them for 6 months, for even better fresh-tomato meatloaf year-round. In this recipe, since you’re already roasting your tomatoes, you can do your onions and garlic at the same time, so they all get that roasted caramelized sweetness before being added to the final product. 

    I have a not so secret love for the much-maligned Spam. In dishes like Korean kimchi jjigae and Hawaiian Spam musubi it’s delicious, and I applaud Annie for sneaking it into her meatloaf. The trick here is to crumble and pan fry it first. You’ll get maximum extra zip, and render out some of the fat that can make meatloaf gross and soggy. In fact, use the leanest ground beef you can find for this same reason. 

    For the rest, I kept the method and seasonings classic and simple. After all, Annie Wilkes is a simple girl, who knows that a simple home-cooked meal is how you can really show someone you’re their number one fan!

    Annie Wilkes’s MISERY Meatloaf

    • For the Loaf
    • 4-5 roma tomatoes, sliced vertically and seeds removed
    • 1 onion, halved and sliced
    • olive oil
    • salt and pepper
    • 6 ounces Spam (half a can), crumbled with a fork
    • 1 pound lean ground beef
    • 3/4 cup bread crumbs
    • 1/4 cup milk
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
    • 1 teaspoon garlic power
    • few cracks ground black pepper

    For the Glaze, whisk together:

    • 1/4 cup ketchup
    • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    1. Heat oven to 400. On separate parchment-lined baking pans, spread tomatoes and onions in a single layer, toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast until well cooked with a few brown and crispy parts, 25-30 minutes (onions will likely be done first). When they are cool enough to handle, chop them up.
    2. On medium-high, cook Spam in a dry pan until brown, remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
      Lower oven heat to 350.
    3. Add roasted tomatoes and onions, Spam, ground beef, bread crumbs, milk, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt, parsley, garlic powder and pepper to a large bowl, and mix well. Press mixture into a parchment-lined 9×5 loaf pan. Spoon glaze over the top and spread.
    4. Bake for 55 minutes to an hour. Pull the loaf out with the parchment and let cool on a board 10-15 minutes before slicing.

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.