TEENY MCMUNN: MY RECIPE BOX

Scalloped potatoes sound boring, but it’s great comfort food. I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t like the dish—but I’m sure they are out there somewhere.

This is the recipe I have used many times, and always with compliments. It is thew basic cream sauce over potatoes, but I think the difference must be the thyme and parsley.

I have often made it without the ham, as some of my family does not eat pork, and it does not take away the flavor. If one wanted to, one could use turkey ham. Less calories and tastes a lot the same.

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp butter, divided 3 c. milk

¼ c. flour 6 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes

1 tsp dried parsley flakes 1 ½ c. chopped cooked ham

1 tsp salt 1 small onion, grated**

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp pepper

Instructions:

In a large saucepan, melt four tablespoons butter, stir in flour, parsley, salt, thyme, and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk, bring to a boil (stirring constantly). Cook and stir for two minutes.

Combine potatoes, ham and onion: place half in a greased 2 ½-quart baking dish. Top with half the sauce, repeat layers. (I don’t combine them.)

Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 65-75 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender. Dot with remaining butter. Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender. Yields four servings (more like six servings).

My Notes:

I made this last night for dinner and made notes to pass on for anyone who hasn’t made scalloped potatoes before. How does one measure cups of potatoes, when potatoes aren’t in a liquid form? Loosely, a large russet potato makes two cups. I used three large russets plus a red potato-just because. If I am taking this dish when I go to visit my family, I double it and use a 9 x 13 pan, (I prefer glass). I found that one hour and 15 minutes was plenty.

**It made me laugh when I finally noticed “grated onion.” Who grates onions? Substitute that for finely diced onion.

Also, I added a bit more butter, flour, and milk, but I found I didn’t really have to.

I think this recipe can be flexible, as it is the basic cream sauce and potatoes, however I tend to stick to the original.

One last note: The part I am not crazy about is the peeling and slicing the potatoes. Its time consuming, so if you can sweet talk someone into helping with that task, while you make the cream sauce, it will go a lot faster.

ENJOY!