You know, those scalloped potatoes in a box aren’t bad, provided you doctor them (cream, not milk, increase the butter, add the obligatory ham), but whether it’s due to the boxed potatoes or something else, the venerable dish has seemingly fallen into the cracks. And you see all kinds of crap served as scalloped potatoes when you do see them. No, scalloped potatoes do not contain cheese. No, scalloped potatoes do not contain Campbell’s soup, or carrots, or celery. And perhaps most importantly, no, scalloped potatoes are not “vegetarian.” So here is how God Almighty eats scalloped potatoes. Try them, and you’ll see why.
Country Scalloped Potatoes
6 medium potatoes
3 T. each: butter and flour
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 oz. ham, diced
1 c. each: milk and cream
1/4 t. dried mustard
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a large baking dish.
Peel potatoes; rinse well then slice thinly (hint: the food processor is good at this). In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions, turn heat down to low, and sauté for 5 minutes, until beginning to soften (but not until transparent). Raise heat to high, stir in flour until smooth. Add milk and cream. Cook, stirring, until thick and bubbly. Stir in mustard, ham, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix the potatoes and sauce in the baking dish, cover, and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover, and bake for an additional 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender and the top is nice and brown. Cheese? Are you kidding? (When I was a kid, I preferred au gratins to scalloped, but I grew up. Cheese is a frivolous distraction.)
Peggy U says:
If you don’t mind dying of clogged arteries, here’s another scalloped potato recipe you can try. When my husband was in college, his mom bought him a cook book called The Campus Survival Cook Book. There were plenty of good, but simple, recipes in that book. Since it fell apart on us a long time ago, I am just going from memory. I may be off from what the recipe called for, but people still seem to like it.
9 good-sized Idaho baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
grated cheddar cheese
dried minced onion
1/2 cup butter, melted
salt and pepper
2 cups of chicken bouillon
In a buttered 9X11X2 baking dish (or cake pan), assemble as follows:
layer of potatoes; minced onion, salt and pepper; cheese. Repeat, finishing with a layer of cheese. Over the top of this, pour the butter and the chicken bouillon (you don’t want the potatoes swimming in the bouillon, so you many not pour all of it in.) Bake at 400 degrees F for 2 hours. It may take longer than this. Just keep poking at it until a fork or skewer slide easily through all of the layers.
We make this every Easter (with the glazed ham recipe from the same cook book) and New Year’s Day, and it always vanishes completely. Enjoy!
May 10, 2007, 1:56 pm