When the frigid cold starts chilling your brittle bones and your teeth start chattering, I want—no, need—a filling meal that sticks to the ribs and warms the gut. Something hearty and rich that can truly thaw you out. Something from the Oklahoma Cookin’ cookbook.
In the Main Dishes section, I stumbled upon a recipe for the iconic Osage Hills Hamburger Pie. It looked like it would really hit the spot… until I saw how heavy it leaned on green beans.
Still, after my success with the Indian Indigenous Pudding dessert, I decided to put my shaky faith in “Special Consultant” Herb Walker and take the plunge. And you know what? It was incredible—just like the Osage Hills themselves and the history they’ve witnessed. I hoped that dish would serve as a fitting tribute, and it absolutely delivered
Like the best meals in most of Oklahoma, the recipe starts with the basics of real cooking: onions, fat, and a pound (or more) of ground beef. Put them together in an iron skillet and let the heat work its wonders, stirring the fatty juices, the searing blubber, and the eye-burning trauma in a well-maintained cast-iron wonder.
Next up, combine the can of tomato soup and the cooked green beans in the skillet, creating a small plume of delicious splatter and wondrous grease burns, with a little salt to calm it down. Meanwhile, get out a standard baking dish and slop it all together, adding some egg and butter to hold it in place.
Do you feel the Okie-ness of it?
Now comes the part I truly love: the mashed potatoes. While the recipe calls for about three whole potatoes mashed, I opt for some pre-made mashed potatoes from the store. I would say it's better than the flakes, but it's probably made with them, too.
Pour them on the mixture and set it them in the oven for around thirty minutes. While waiting, read up on the Osage Hills, Pawhuska, and the war crimes indreictly linked to the Pioneer Woman's family. You will be shocked and amazed…but mostly shocked.
Take the dish out of the oven and, after letting it cool slightly, spoon a bowl of it out—and if you have one, share it with a special person who might enjoy it. After blowing on a spoonful and taking a big bite, you realize this one is a real winner!
Though my meal was ostensibly a Shepherd’s Pie, the addition of green beans—something I never thought would be enjoyable—and the tomato soup proved to be far better than the usual frozen peas, carrots, and corn. It delivered a bigger flavor than I ever would have thought possible.
And even though I worried that using microwaved potatoes might detract from the dish, they actually enhanced it. The buttery taste added that little “umph” I don’t think it would have had otherwise—at least for me.
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Follow Louis Fowler on Instagram at @louisfowler78.
