Tater Tot Appetizer Cups

 Ingredients:

48-60 frozen tater tots
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sour cream
4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 green onions (or chives), sliced

 Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Spray mini muffin pan cups with cooking spray
2. Place 3 tater tots in each muffin cup
3. Place tater tots muffin pan on bottom rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven.
4. Spray bottom of shot glass or small juice glass with cooking spray. Use it, in a twisting montion, to press the tate tos in each muffin cup to form the potato cup. Return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until deep golden brown.
5. Add cheese to each potato cup. Probably use between 1-2 teaspoons of cheese for each cup. Bake for an additional 4-5 minutes to melt the cheese.
6. Add sour cream, bacon, and green onion (or chives) to each tater tot cup and any other garnishes.
7. Serve warm.

Cooks notes:  I added the bacon prior to adding the cheese. I found that when I added the sour cream it would pull away some of the bacon on the top of the cheese.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter (Marcella Hazan)

 This is the simplest of all sauces to maek, and none has a purer, more irresistibly sweet tomato taste. I have known people to skip the pasta and eat the sauce directly out of the pot with a spoon.

INGREDIENTS:

500 grams or 1 pound 2 ounces of canned imported Ittalian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juices.

75 grams or 2 ounces of butter

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half,

Salt

Directions:

Put the canned tomatoes and juices into a saucepan, add the butter, onion and salt and cook uncovered at a very slow but steady simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomatoes. 

Sitr from time to time,  mashing any large piece of tomato in the man with the back of a wooden spoon. 

Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.