Join us on Saturdays from October 19th to March 29th from 9 a.m. to Noon at the Carmel Winter Farmers Market! Hosting an upcoming holiday season gathering? Serve your guests well with one of our natural-cure hams, beef rib roasts, or sweetheart turkey breasts. Also, we have a gift bundles and gift certificates available for the food enthusiast on your list!

Cheesy Ham and Potato Casserole

I prepared several smoked hams last week, one for a funeral dinner and the others to dice and have on-hand for in-a-pinch meals.  After surveying the fam on what to make with some of the ham, Kyle requested something 'cheesy and with potatoes'.  I quickly scanned a few of my go-to cook books and website and came up with the recipe below.  It was well-received by all (except Stella, who does not like potatoes (I am not sure I can claim her as my daughter :/)

Ingredients
  • ~4 lbs of potatoes (I used red-skinned)
  • 1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced (could also use 1/2 onion and 1/2 leek)
  • 1 c half-and-half
  • 1 2/3 c milk (I used whole)
  • ~1 1/2 tsp salt
  • ~1/2 freshly ground black pepper
  • few shakes of hot sauce/Tabasco sauce
  • ~2 to 2 1/2 c of your favorite cheese (or combination of cheeses); I used sharp cheddar and Colby Jack (Gruyere, hot pepper, Gouda, fontina, etc. would be other good choices)
  • 1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • ~2 to 3 c of diced smoked ham
Directions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.  Wash all potatoes and peel all (or part) of them, depending on your peel preference (I peeled ~1/3 and left the others peel-on).  Using the slicing blade of a mandolin, thinly slice the potatoes.  Place the potato slices and onion in a large saute' pan or electric skillet.  Add the half-and-half, milk, salt, pepper, and hot/Tabasco sauce; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for ~6-8 minutes (stirring occasionally), or until the potatoes start to become fork-tender (but retain their shape).
  2. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and transfer half of the potato-cream sauce mixture to the dish.  Sprinkle with a little additional salt/pepper and add half of the ham; cover with half of the cheese/cheese combination.  Add the remaining potato-cream mixture; lightly sprinkle with salt/pepper; add the remaining ham and top with the remaining cheese (including the Parmesan cheese).  Cover with foil. 
  3. Bake for 20 minutes, remove foil, then bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.  I served this with roasted Brussels sprouts but any green vegetable would be a nice side dish. 

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