Tater Tot Poutine is an American spin on Canadian bar food that’s a bite of deliciousness!
I was recently at one of my favorite gourmet burger restaurants sampling some of their new menu items and one of the new items was Poutine! Have you heard of Poutine? It is a delicious concoction of potatoes namely fries, a light gravy, cheese curds, and just about anything else you want to put on them! Well my husband hates fries. I know its just wrong to hate fries, but he loves tater tots so here is my version of a Tater Tot Poutine.
Poutine is a dish commonly found in Quebec Canada and had just started making an appearance here in the states not too long ago. It is mostly found in pubs and small greasy spoon diners in Quebec. I just started noticing it on menus here in Arizona just recently. I do not know why it took so long because to me this is pure comfort food.
There is a definite order in how to plate the poutine. The tater tots and gravy need to be steaming hot and the cheese curds room temperature. I know this because when did the trial run the cheese curds were cold and the gravy just warm so the cheese curds did not melt and get all gooey. That is the goal to have an almost soupy pile of deliciousness with the crisp tater tots so you have a lot of texture and flavor at the same time! But you don’t want to burn your mouth either so let the poutine cool a bit before eating!
Another little tidbit is the gravy is usually a combination of both beef gravy and chicken gravy and you don’t want it to be too thick. It needs to settle down through that pile of tots and coat them! I find a gravy that uses cornstarch as opposed to flour to thicken the gravy, to be a better choice.
As I said Poutine is pure comfort food to me and these Tater Tot Poutine makes and easy side dish for just about anything! I served them with baked chicken and the hubby loved them!!
Ingredients
- Tater Tots
- Cheese Curds
- Bacon bits
- Sliced green onions for garnish
For Gravy:
- 1 Cup beef Stock
- 1 Cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup diced yellow onion
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Remove cheese curds from the refrigerator about an hour before needed to bring to room temperature.
- Bake tater tots according to package directions. While tater tots are baking prepare gravy.
For Gravy:
- In a medium sauce pan add olive oil and onions and cook over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add both stocks to pan and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch to 2 Tbs of cold water mix until a paste is made. Using a whisk add the cornstarch to the stock and whisk so gravy is smooth. Gravy will thicken as it cooks. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep gravy hot until ready to use.
- Slice onions for garnish.
- When Tater Tots are done place on plate and add cheese curds, ladle about 1/4 cup gravy over top of tots and cheese. Sprinkle with onions and bacon bits. Enjoy!
Brenda says
Where do you get cheese curds? I’ve only seen them at A&W. lol
Allison says
Hi – this sounds good. But what are cheese curds? I never heard of them.
JessieRose says
Cheese curds are popular in the American Midwest. But out here on the West Coast I’ve started seeing them in regular supermarkets. If you have a “natural” foods store, they might be there. In the simplest terms, cheese curds are like mozzarella, but basically just chunks of cheese. You can bread and fry them, or get them gooey in all manner of ways. You can usually find them in the deli area of a store, sold in hard plastic containers. Don’t look for them where the sliced cheeses are.