Week 13 - Utah

Howdy from the Beehive State! Week 13 of the National Grub Year found us in Utah.  It's another state I've never visited, and my only knowledge of it is dominated by a certain religious group that calls home to Salt Lake City. As such, I didn't know what we were getting into when I started looking into the recipes the state was known for.  It was a little foreboding that most of what I saw centered around "funeral potatoes"...


Funeral Potatoes

32 oz. shredded potatoes
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, dices
2 cloves garlic, minced
One 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
2 cups corn flake cereal, crushed

First, I heated 2 tablespoons of butter and cooked the onion and garlic until fragrant and translucent, about 8 minutes.

Next, I actually shredded potatoes to make my own hash browns, and then mixed those in with the cooked onions, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and 1 and 1/2 cups of the cheddar cheese.
 

I spread this mixture into a casserole dish, and then topped it with the remaining butter, corn flakes, and cheese.

I baked this all at 350 for one hour.

Dutch Oven Sausage, Cabbage, and Carrots

2 pounds bratwurst
1 large onion, cut into eights
1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 pound carrots, sliced

The Dutch oven was actually named the official cookware of Utah (yes, that’s a thing in real life).  It’s association with pioneer life is so strong that there are Dutch Oven cook-offs throughout the state.  This was a simple recipe I found from one of those cook-off competitions.

First, I cooked the brats and onion on medium heat until they were lightly browned.

Next, I added the cabbage and water and cooked for 10 minutes  I then added the carrots, covered the dutch oven, and cooked for 30 minutes.

Jello Salad

1 package lemon Jello
1 package lime Jello
1 4 ounce can pineapple chunks with juice
1 12 ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup coarsley chopped pecans

Yes, folks, leave it to the Mormons to call this a salad.

First, I heated up the pineapple juice.

Next, I added the Jello mixes to this (note, this is the bowl that you will be making the Jello Salad in).

I let this cool in the fridge while I combined all of the other ingredients together in another bowl.

Once the Jello was sticky, I took it out of the fridge and began mixing both bowls together.  Luckily, I had some help...

Once it was all mixed together, I put it back in the fridge to set.

The result...

...was...surprising. The cabbage and sausage dish in the Dutch Oven was fine, just not a stand-out this week.  I did love the ease of cooking in the Dutch Oven, very similar to cooking in a crockpot.  I’m going to need to find more recipes to try with this method.

The Jello Salad, on the other hand, was shocking in that it actually kinda worked together. I had helpings of this throughout the week for dessert, as it was a much lighter option than ice cream or cake or pie. 

My favorite dish this week was the funeral potatoes.  Artery clogging as it was (a lifetime of this would bring about your own funeral) it was delicious and was perfect for a cool, overcast day.  This one will go into the rotation for pot-luck dinners and family get-togethers.

Overall it was a successful trip to Utah, and I came out of it with two recipes to try again (really...Jello Salad...it's a thing that's kinda good!)