Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Cheese

I had a ton of left overs from my first homemade honey baked ham, so I decided to make scalloped potatoes with ham.  Growing up this was always a dish that my Mom made after we had Easter.  It used up the extra ham and it was friggin delicious.  This was a great recipe, but it barely made a dent in my leftover ham.  Dana and I went a little bit overboard when we thought we could tackle a 7lb boneless ham.  Just a little bit.  Back to the Scalloped potatoes, this is easiest done when you have a nice mandolin or a food processor with a slicing attachment.  Luckily my parents came to the rescue again and donated a food processor to the cause.  Thanks Mom and Dad.

Coated with cheese and baked to perfection, this was a meal that fed us for a couple meals.  It only gets better each time you reheat it.  I love this meal.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Cheese

• 6 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes, roughly 3 pounds
• 3 cups milk
• 2 cups chopped fully cooked ham
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 tbs butter
• 1 tsp kosher or fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, flour, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper and paprika.  Whisk together until the mixture is smooth.

While whisking, slowly add the milk.  Once the milk is fully incorporated and smooth, bring to a boil, stirring frequently.   When the mixture starts to boil, cook until thick and creamy, Roughly 2 minutes.

Slice the ham into bite sized pieces.  Using a mandolin or other food slicer, slice the potatoes to 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick slices.  The thicker the slices the longer you will have to bake the potatoes for them to be done.  I used the shredding blade on my food processor to shred the onion.  Then I flipped the blade over to the slicing side and then sliced the potatoes.  Food processors can be really handy.  Plus, they can be cleaned in the dishwasher.

Grease a 9×13 glass baking dish or a similarly sized dish.  Add the potatoes, ham, onion and cheese.  Mix to combine.  Then gradually pour the milk mixture over the top.  Using a rubber spatula, smooth out the top and make sure that the milk mixture is evenly distributed throughout the potatoes.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil or a lid and place in the preheated 375 degree oven for an hour and a half, 90 minutes.  Then remove the cover and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the potatoes start to brown.  This sounds like a long time to bake, but you want the potatoes to be fully cooked.  Crunchy potatoes are bad potatoes.

Serve with some chewy rolls and you family will love you.