Growing up my mother often made a potato casserole with meat layered in. With her, it was usually it was canned corned beef. it was filling, and cheap. Good farm food.
I often use left over ham. This is really a casserole full of scalloped potatoes with meat …. ham is good, corned beef is good. I even made it once with SPAM. I could envision prosciutto even. It’s dressed scalloped potatoes!
I don’t follow an exact recipe for this, and it will depend on how big your dish is.
Whatever type of meat is used, it starts with a bechamel sauce …..melt butter, add flour and stir. Add in milk and stir while it warms up and thickens. Start layering potatoes, meat, sliced onions, and the sauce into a casserole dish. Repeat layers ending up with bechamel on top. I sprinkle in some herbs (even better if you have fresh herbs like thyme or dill, but dried are fine) with each layer.
Potato ham casserole
I grate some Parmesan cheese on top as well. Cheddar works, as will most other cheeses. Whatever is your preference.
This dish is a great way to repurpose meat leftovers. Solid pieces of meat, like ham, should be sliced fairly thin, less than 1/4″. When using canned meat, I slice it about 1/3″ thick. a big casserole would require 2 cans of corned beef. I try and make the pieces no larger than 2″ square – you don’t want to pull a huge piece of meat out, leaving just potato behind for the next scoop.
I like a deep casserole dish for it; I have some Pyrex dishes and use the same one my mom used. Sometimes it will bubble over if the dish is too full. If you don’t have a deep pan, try using a Dutch oven or deep cast iron skillet. And put it on a cookie sheet, just in case.
Bake at 350F for about an hour until the potato is soft. The top will start to brown and will bubble.
It may not look as pretty as some other dishes, but, man is it good.
Short on time? Make and assemble a day ahead and refrigerate to bake the next day.
