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Thoroughly wash, scrub, bathe, massage, and manicure three pounds of potatoes. Russets are best, but Yukon Golds work swimmingly as well.
Plus, they’re purty.
Grab some of that there Easter ham.
Or any ham.
Cut it into strips…
Then dice it on up.
Dice up an onion, too. Have a good, cleansing cry while you’re at it.
Then grab a couple of tablespoons of butter. It'll make everything all better.
Measure some half-and-half and heavy cream in a pitcher, then nuke it in the microwave (how else would you nuke something, Ree?) for a minute or so, just to warm it up a bit. Then add 1/4 cup of flour…
A little bit of salt (definitely go easy on the salt since there’s both cheese and ham in the dish)…
And plenty of pepper.
Just whisk it together so it's all combined.
Grate up some cheese. I used regular and white cheddar, but cheddar and Monterey Jack is a great combination.
Melt the butter in a skillet, then throw in the chopped onions…
Stir it around and cook it for a minute or two…
Then throw in the diced ham…
And cook it around for another two or three minutes till it's all heated up. Remove it from heat and set it aside.
Meet My Monstrous Mandoline. (That should be a title of a horror movie.) I've had it since the dark ages. Well, the nineties anyway. If you have a mandoline, great…but you can also use a Japanese slicer (sold in lots of supermarkets these days) if you have access to one. The idea is to slice the potatoes as thinly as you can, so if you don't have a slicer, you’ll definitely need a sharp knife.
Slice up the potatoes…
Till you have a bunch of 1/8-inch slices.
And now. A note. To help the potatoes along, you can plunge the slices into boiling water for a few minutes just to start the cooking process. Drain them, then go ahead with the assembly process.
And now. Another note. I’m too lazy to do this most of the time. I just try to bake the casserole long enough for the potatoes to bake on their own. But if you have the time, the motivation, the inclination, or the intestinal fortitude, go ahead and boil 'em first.
When you're ready to assemble the casserole, butter a big ol’ baking dish.
Layer a third of the potato slices in the pan…
Followed by a third of the ham/onion mixture, a third of the cheese, and a third of the cream mixture.
Repeat with another layer of potatoes, another layer of ham…
Another layer of cheese, and another third of the cream mixture.
End with a final layer of potatoes…
A final layer of ham…
A final layer of cheese…
And the rest of the liquid!
Note that I went easy on the cheese amount in this recipe, so you shouldn’t expect a thick layer of cheese each time. Same with the ham—just a sprinkling!
Sprinkle the top with a little more pepper…
Then cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake it at 350 for 40 minutes.
After that time, take off the foil and bake it for another 20 minutes or so, until it’s nice and bubbly and hot and perfect.
Like this!
Cut it into squares to serve it up.
And sprinkle the top with chopped parsley.
Yum…and yum!
Enjoy this, guys. It's scrumptious.
