Since we are all at home and have plenty of time, I thought it would be a good time to make scalloped potatoes, and have enough for several meals if I put the extra portions in little tubs in the freezer.
The food processor makes a lot of the jobs easier, like slicing potatoes and onions and grating the cheese, but you can certainly do it with a knife if you don’t have a food processor.
I like to get all my ingredients ready before I start building the creation. Celery sliced fine, thin bits of ham, sliced potatoes, sliced onions, and grated cheese (I like to use Asiago in the middle for a zippy taste, and something that melts well – like cheddar or mozza on the top).
Don’t ask me how many potatoes. Maybe six? Seven? As many as it takes.
Butter a large casserole pan and put a layer of potatoes in the bottom.
Grind some pepper onto the potatoes but DO NOT put salt on if you are using ham. If you still crave more salt when it is done you can always sprinkle a bit on at the table.
Layer the onion, ham, cheese and celery in the pan. I ended up with one layer of celery and two of ham, probably three of potatoes, with Asiago in one of the middle layers. Arrange it any way you like. It doesn’t matter that much. I’ve heard some people say not to put the cheese and the onion next to each other or the cheese tastes too much like onion, but you have to suit yourself. Throw some more pepper on now and then.
The cheddar or mozza goes on last, but before that last layer, I poured about two cups of half and half (coffee cream) into a measuring cup and added a couple of tablespoons of pesto. You don’t need to do the pesto thing but I thought I’d try it and we liked it. Parsley is probably the standard green stuff to put on it at this point.
If you use milk instead of cream, you might want to add two tablespoons of flour and mix it into the milk before pouring it over the layers.
Then sprinkle cheese on top – lots of cheese! – and cover it with tin foil and put it in the oven at 350 for an hour, or hour and a half. Take the tin foil off 15 minutes before you take it out so the cheese can brown a tiny bit.
Poke the potatoes with a sharp paring knife to check for tenderness. (This is probably the only time you can poke something with a sharp knife and expect tenderness.)
In that hour and a half while the scalloped potatoes are baking, you have plenty of time to make a salad to go with it.
There was so much food in this one dish that I was able to put away several portions in the freezer to take out for quick lunches some other days.
April 6, 2020 at 8:32 pm
OM Gosh, I just love Scalloped taters! 🥰
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April 6, 2020 at 10:40 pm
You should make some. It’s easy.
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April 6, 2020 at 8:52 pm
This looks sooo good. BUt we can’t get potatoes here now. Waaaaa
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April 6, 2020 at 10:41 pm
Really???? Is this a normal thing?
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April 7, 2020 at 3:16 pm
To not have potatoes? Absolutely not. First bag daughter scrounged for me were the worst potatoes ever. Green and rotten at the same time. Within a week the ones I hadn’t used were a soup black mess. Then she got me a bag of small yellow potatoes, but they just aren’t good for most uses. I want a bag of beautiful russets.
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April 7, 2020 at 7:29 pm
I’ve noticed over the last three or four years, that our potatoes have a lot of blue bruises on the inside. I’m wondering what’s going on.
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April 8, 2020 at 9:46 am
Eew, I know!
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April 6, 2020 at 9:35 pm
It looks wonderful and I think I will make it. Thanks for posting!
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April 6, 2020 at 10:42 pm
You can make your own variation of it using what you have handy. I like having the extra portions for quick lunches or an additive to another supper.
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April 6, 2020 at 10:54 pm
Looks delicious! I wonder if one could make it with yams as well? Hmmm, I will give that some thought and maybe try a small dish of it. I’ll let you know how it turns out! Thanks for the inspiration.
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April 7, 2020 at 8:22 am
Good idea, Sonja. I think it would be really good.
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April 6, 2020 at 11:16 pm
That is a yummy-looking recipe! Thanks. 🙂
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April 7, 2020 at 8:23 am
And EASY!!!
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April 7, 2020 at 12:32 am
I should do them soon, they look so delicious!
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April 7, 2020 at 12:59 am
Wow…….
Competition rising
😎👍☺️
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April 7, 2020 at 8:21 am
Hans, you know no one could compete with your cooking. This is just ordinary “down home” stuff. But it’s good.
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April 7, 2020 at 3:39 am
Oh, yum!!
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April 7, 2020 at 8:22 am
It was yummy, yes.
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April 7, 2020 at 4:43 am
I laughed at: “it’s the only time you can poke something with a pairing knife and expect tenderness”- too funny!
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April 7, 2020 at 9:06 am
Thank you for noticing my sneaky attempt at humour, Lauren. I’m smiling.
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April 7, 2020 at 7:07 am
I, too, really got a kick out of your parenthetical, Anneli. The recipe sounds terrific, the most flavorful and colorful scalloped potatoes I’ve ever seen. The celery no doubt adds a crunchy texture, too. yum. Thanks for taking the time to share this delicious-looking recipe, with all the great photos.
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April 7, 2020 at 8:26 am
Thanks, Jet. Cooking can be boring without the odd parentheses. 😉 The celery adds a little something, and is always a good flavour to throw into a dish.
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April 7, 2020 at 7:23 am
Looks ever so yummy. I’d love to try the recipe, but we don’t have all the ingredients at home and in these times it’s not just like quickly going to the supermarket, isn’t it? Some other – happier – time then.
Take care, and stay healthy,
Pit
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April 7, 2020 at 8:27 am
But that’s just it, Pit, you can fake it and make up your own ingredients. This is just a basic start to your own creation.
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April 7, 2020 at 8:48 am
OK, and thx again for the recipe. 🙂 Just for now, I might stay with my potato pancakes, though.
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April 7, 2020 at 9:07 am
Nothing wrong with those either!
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April 8, 2020 at 1:29 pm
Hi Pit, am a neighbour of Anneli’s. Do you share your potato pancake recipe? Have 25 lbs of Siefferts Yukon golds to use in recipes. thanks
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April 7, 2020 at 7:53 am
That looks amazing and I would never consider myself a fan of scalloped potatoes. That way, your way–count me in!
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April 7, 2020 at 8:28 am
I think the trick is to use only the ingredients you like.
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April 7, 2020 at 8:55 am
Looks delicious. I don’t eat onion though. I really liked the idea of pesto. A nice twist.
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April 7, 2020 at 9:09 am
So leave out the onions. 😉
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April 7, 2020 at 1:41 pm
That’s what I usually do with recipes that call for onions. Sometimes I’ll add in garlic if it fits the dish.
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April 7, 2020 at 2:47 pm
A wonderful dinner in one dish. 😊
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April 7, 2020 at 7:27 pm
It sure is.
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April 7, 2020 at 7:12 pm
ONe of my favourite dishes , the Mastercraft Ham is $3.00 off at Costco this week, 7 April. Comfort food. Thank YOU Anneli
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April 7, 2020 at 7:28 pm
A little bit goes a long way with this dish. Hope you’re keeping well, Marsha.
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April 8, 2020 at 1:28 am
Drooling..!
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April 8, 2020 at 9:35 am
Get into the kitchen and start cooking!;-)
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April 8, 2020 at 10:49 pm
I need to!
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