Ham and Scalloped Potato Recipe

Bechamel Sauce. That is good to use on anything, including for scalloped potatoes.
And if you cook the roux wrong, it gets grainy.

Me, I don't cook this in my house. I tend to mess it up.
My Husband makes it, he makes a good Bechamel sauce.
Its good on cauliflower too.
My kids LOVE that.
It is also good with Endive. Which you bake in the oven. And with ham.

I don't know if what I make is traditional scalloped potatoes, but everyone loves it, and that's what I call it. :)

Prepare a baking dish and oven at around 375 degrees.

Ingredients:

Potatoes, cleaned and peeled if desired, sliced into equal thick-sized rounds.
One onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bag (or more if desired) sharp cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese, grated
2-3 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
diced ham (shredded chicken also works well)
Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder and Onion powder
Squares of butter

(the amounts are give-or-take, depending on the amount you're making, how cheesy you like it, etc...)

Get your veggies ready (sliced, diced, etc..) blend your milk and eggs until incorporated and well mixed. Set aside.
Place even layers of potatoes on bottom of baking pan and sprinkle with seasonings (salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders).
Evenly spread a portion of ham, onion and garlic onto the potatoes.
Follow with cheese and a couple squares of butter here and there.

Continue with pattern til the combination is about 1/2 inch from top, with cheese being the last (top) level. Pour blended milk and egg mixture over top.

Spray foil with non-stick spray, and cover. Bake for about 45 mins. or until tender. Again, this depends on how thick and how much potatoes you use.
I will often take the foil off the top and lightly brown the top, because that just adds to the yumminess! :)

Everyone loves this and the egg mixture combined with the cheese and butter helps make for a nice sauce that isn't runny or goopy. Very filling and satisfying. :D

Let me know if you try this or use this and change things up a bit.

L.

p.s. You can go to About.com and put in "basic white sauce" (Bechamel Sauce)... the trick is cooking it enough (helps cut down on graininess) and keeping a close watch on it. I've never used it for scalloped potatoes, but we've used it for the start of many gravies, and you can add some cheese to it to pour onto broccoli, etc..

You have to make sure to use evaporated or whole milk. Otherwise, the sauce separates. Make sure that when you make the white sauce, you let the flour cook in the butter for a minute before adding the milk, or the flour will taste "raw". Add the milk SLOWLY and make sure it's HOT (not boiling) when you do this, this sauce can separate and/or get grainy just by adding cold milk because it doesn't bind the same way and it has to heat up before it mixes in properly.
Cook the ham in a frying pan a little before adding it, you want some of the water to evaporate because that, too, can make the sauce runny. When you slice the potatoes, let them sit in water until you are going to use them or they will start to turn brown.

And although my recipe (sorry I don't have it with me but I got it from Betty Crocker) doesn't use cheese, Laura's sounds really good, too!

Dice ham and potatoes add basic white sauce, put in oven let bake until done.

The first time I made this I added too much milk so we had ham and potato soup. It was soooooo good I have been asked to make it again.

Go to Allrecipes.com They have recipes for everything.

I don't know about the ham, but here is a very simple, french scalloped potato recipe that never fails:

preheat oven to 350. cut the potatoes into fairly thin slices, and boil them in whole milk --potatoes should be covered. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and bay leaf to the pot. Bring to a slow boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes just start to really soften. the milk should be getting thick too.

generously butter a gratin dish, and then generously sprinkle chopped garlic over it.

using a slotted spoon, put the potatoes into the dish. then taste the milk, adjust the seasoning, and then pour it into the dish. do not cover the potatoes, however, because you put a thin layer of cream on top to finish ;-)

bake for about an hour, or until liquid is absorbed. these will keep in a warm over for an hour.

That is seriously the best recipe I've ever tried. Simple, spot on every time. and creamy! much easier and better than when i've done a bechemal sauce ;-)