One of the enduring scenes from the Harrison Ford classic movie, Witness, was of a barn-raising. And one of my favorites scenes was the meal scene.
🔨 Barn-Raisings and the Amish
Barn-raisings make great TV and capture the public’s imagination when it comes to Amish culture, but the reality is that they are fairly rare occurrences. This is especially true in older more established communities where there’s little available land and the barns are already built.
I once met an Amish woman in her 70s living in a large Amish settlement and in all her years she only attended one barn-raising. Of course if fire burns down a barn or someone just needs a new one built to replace an old one, then a barn-raising will occur. But if you’re expecting to cruise the roads of your favorite Amish settlement hoping to see a barn-raising, don’t hold your breath. Sometimes one gets lucky. My friends Margie and Fred from Hamilton, Ohio were planning a trip to Holmes County a couple of years ago and before they went we talked. The conversation went something like this.
Related Recipes: Amish Washday Casserole, Pizza Biscuit Casserole
Margie: “We would love to see a barn-raising.”
Me: “Don’t get your hopes up, such events are very rare, Mainly happens on TV.”
And, of course, Margie and Fred aren’t up there but a day visiting their Amish friends and they are invited to a barn-raising. But I stand by my statement that they are relatively rare events!
🍲 Amish Barn-Raising Food
When there is barn-raising, food is a big part of it. The ladies, and, yes, it is usually the ladies, whip up an awesome meal for the men (It would be almost unheard of to see a woman participating in the manual labor). Usually, such meals consist of a big, hearty casserole, and this hamburger-potato casserole is a perfect example. Some foods you might find at an Amish barn-raising:
- Casseroles
- Homemade Bread
- Lemonade
- Cookies
- Salads
📋 Step-by-Step Hamburger-Potato Casserole
This is an easy, filling ground beef casserole that will leave you with plenty of calories to burn. With potatoes and beef, this hamburger potato casserole recipe is the ultimate comfort food!
You don't need to brown the ground beef in a skillet or anything. You just bake the beef. Crumble the ground beef and you can season the ground beef if you want with salt, pepper, onion salt, or garlic powder. Whatever you want to your taste. Combine everything, put into a baking dish (you don't need to do layers, just stir it all), and stick it in the preheated oven.
You can sprinkle more cheese on top when it comes out of the oven. I like cheddar cheese with this. So you get good cheesy potatoes. Some people I know add cream of celery, cream of chicken soup, or cream of mushroom soup to the whole mixture and it is good that way, but not necessary. I think I like the celery best. It makes for kind of a creamy sauce.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer. Serve with veggies or salad as a side dish. A dollop of sour cream on this casserole tastes really good.
Home » Recipes » Amish Casseroles
Farmer's Hearty Hamburger Casserole
Published: Jun 9, 2022 · Updated: Jun 9, 2022 by Kevin Williams | 8 Comments
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This Farmer's Hearty Hamburger Casserole is a really amazing, filling meal.
I think what strikes me about this is that it truly has a little bit of everything in it. There’s something for everyone. Even if you don't like, for instance, green beans, there's probably enough other stuff in here that you will like.
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This casserole is a cut above your typical throw-together casserole. There are green beans in the in the recipe, which fortifies it with a bit more nutritional value. You do have hamburger, and here’s the really neat part: you have a ring of mashed potatoes sealing in all the flavor.
This Farmer's Hearty Casserole reminds me of some of the more turn-of-the-century (turn of the 20th century) traditional dishes you’d find being served in an Amish home. There’s no cans of cream of mushroom soup in this, this is all basically scratch-made or home-raised stuff. In the early 20th century, actually up until the mid 20th century, the vast majority of Amish men were farmers. And it was hard hard work.
Farming is still hard work, but in the absence of any technological or equipment improvements, it was even more difficult 100 years ago. Most Amish farming was all manual labor from dawn till dusk. They really did truly need hearty dishes to fuel them for such calorie expenditures. Farmer's Hearty Casserole delivered those calories.
A Filling Meal!
Today, the Amish work ethic is a strong as ever, but there have been some concessions to technology, and that has taken the edge off some of the non-stop manual labor in Amish jobs, whether that be in the farm field or in the cabinet shop. Still, most Amish workers do work in jobs that are still quite physical. So whether the Amish person is a farmer or a cabinet-maker, this casserole is still a favorite!
Most Amish would use home-raised beef, so use the freshest hamburger possible.
The green beans and hamburger are an interesting pairing, but it works!
And then Farmer's Hearty Casserole gets even more interesting with the additional of tomato sauce. But, really, I mean, these are all ingredients you might find combined in a veggie soup.
Then you cover the whole border with mashed potatoes and bake!
Absolutely delicious!
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🍲 Casserole Ingredients
- 1 pound of hamburger
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 pint of green beans, drained
- 1 can of tomato sauce
- 5 medium potatoes, boiled
- ½ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 /2 cup shredded cheese
📋 Instructions
- Brown hamburger and onion.
- Drain off fat.
- Pour into a greased casserole dish.
- Add beans and stir in tomato sauce.
- Mash potatoes, milk, and egg together in a separate bowl.
- Mold potatoes into a ring and shape over the bean-hamburger mix.
- Bake 30-40 minutes at 350.
- Sprinkle 1 /2 cup of your favorite cheese over the potatoes.
🍲 More Amish Easy Casserole Recipes
Grandma Graber's Quick and Easy Casserole - So good!
Hearty Breakfast Casserole - Delicious!
Dairy Casserole - Wow!
Amish Ham Casserole - So good!
🖨️ Full Recipe
Barn-Raising Hamburger-Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 cups peeled, thinly sliced
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup carrots, thinly sliced, optional
- 1 pound hamburger
- ½ cup cracker crumbs
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¾ cup evaporated milk
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Mix together the first 4 ingredients and place in a 2 quart casserole.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine the remaining ingredients and put on top of potatoes.
- Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender.
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