This Scalloped Potatoes and Ham recipe is true comfort food. Warm and creamy, this recipe has a light scattering of cheddar cheese to bring everything together. I serve these scalloped potatoes with salad and some green veggies to counter its richness. Often times I prep the casserole the night before and bake it first thing in the morning, so all it needs is to be reheated before dinner. My kids wake up with a tantalizing smell that makes them think about the dinner they will have after a long day of school. Comforting thoughts as they head out the door. Sunday nights when I was a kid my Mom always made a big dinner. She set the table with her fine china, linen napkins, and invited my Grandpa to join us. The menu usually included something that wouldn’t be cooked on a normal weeknight, a beef roast, roasted chicken, or a ham. Early the next week, we ate the leftovers. This scalloped potatoes and ham recipe is one of those leftover meals. I remember smelling it cook, my mouth watering, and thinking about how the leftover meal was almost always better than the big Sunday meal it came from. This is a recipe I make often, even when I don’t have leftover ham and end up using a good quality store bought ham steak instead. Try serving these potatoes with a nice salad topped with a homemade vinaigrette or Sauteed Rainbow Chard.
Peel the potatoes and slice them into 1/4 inch slices. Dice the onion and cut the ham into bite-sized pieces.
In a 2-quart gratin pan, layer the ingredients starting with a layer of overlapping sliced potatoes, top with 1 tbsp diced onions, sprinkled over the potatoes, followed by a layer of ham slices, 1 tbsp of flour and a 1/4 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Repeat the layering process three or more times until all the ingredients are used up.
Pour 2 cups of whole milk or heavy cream over the top.
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour in a 350℉ oven. Remove the foil for the last 1/2 hour of baking, so the cheese browns. Don’t worry that there isn’t any salt or pepper in this recipe, the ham and cheddar add all the seasoning the dish needs.