Potato And Ham Bake
Potato And Ham Bake is an oven baked side dish. Versatile, perfect for Easter, Christmas or Thanksgiving. A great way to use leftover ham.
Servings: 8
Calories: 375kcal
Ingredients
- 6 large potatoes or 1.2 kg, 2.6 pounds, Note 1
- 2 cups/ 500 ml heavy cream Note 2
- 2 teaspoon mustard powder Note 3
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder Note 4
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme Note 5
- ¼ teaspoon salt Note 6
- ½ teaspoon black pepper also Note 6
- 3 cups diced ham Note 7
- ½ large brown onion skin peeled and diced, Note 8
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese freshly grated using a hand held box grater, Note 9
- 1 cup colby cheese freshly grated using a hand held box grater, Note 10
Garnish
- flat leaf parsley stems removed, leaves finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
- Potatoes: use a vegetable peeler and cutting board to peel the potatoes. Then discard the skins. Once done, use a mandolin or knife and thinly slice the potatoes. Then use a knife to cut the potato slices in halves (optional).
- Cream sauce: next pour the cream into a large bowl and add the mustard powder, garlic powder, dried thyme, salt and pepper. Stir to consistently combine these and then set aside.
- Combine: add the potato sliced, cubes of ham and diced onion to a large mixing bowl. Then use a wooden spoon to stir and combine. Once combined pour the cream sauce over the top and stir again until it is mixed through.
- Baking dish: transfer the combined ham potato and onion mixture into a greased baking dish. Gently pat the surface to ensure it is a flat layer with no potato slices sticking up too much. Then place the baking tray into the oven (middle shelf).
- Oven bake and cheese topping: let the potato bake cook for 50 minutes. Once the cook time is up, use oven mitts to remove the baking dish and place it onto a heatproof surface. Then sprinkle the colby cheese followed by the mozzarella cheese over the top. Return the baking dish to the oven and let the cheese melt for around 10 minutes. Then turn the oven off and let the potatoes sit in there for 5 minutes.
- To serve: use oven mitts to remove the baking dish from the oven and place it onto a heatproof surface. Allow it to start to cool and the cream sauce stop bubbling and thicken. Once it has, place the potato and ham bake onto a heatproof surface on the table and garnish with chopped parsley.
Notes
- Note 1 - Cream: we want to use heavy cream for the recipe. It is the 'sauce' for the potatoes and we season it before adding it to the potatoes.
- Note 2 - Potatoes: a wide variety of potatoes will work for the recipe. Brushed potatoes tend to be a little bit cheaper than washed potatoes. In all potato varieties, we want to peel the skin.
- Note 3 - Mustard powder: also for flavor in the recipe and very much a compliment to the ham.
- Note 4 - Garlic powder: this is an excellent pantry staple that comes in handy for many recipes. It saves time peeling and chopping yet still gives great garlic flavor.
- Note 5 - Dried thyme: this is the herb that we use to flavor the potatoes as they cook.
- Note 6 - Salt and pepper: we use cooking salt and a little bit of black pepper to season the cream before we combine it with the potatoes.
- Note 7 - Ham: leftover Christmas ham is what you see in the photo above. Cut from the bone and roughly diced into cubes. If your ham has cloves, you will need to discard (pulled them out) before chopping the ham into cubes. You can use non leftover ham if you choose too. In which case chunky ham like ham steaks is best not thin slices of deli or sandwich ham.
- Note 8 - Onion: we peel and dice half a large onion. If you don't want the onion texture but do want the onion flavor, you can omit the diced onion and onion 1 teaspoon of dried onion to the cream when adding the garlic powder.
- Note 9 - Mozzarella: we use 2 types of cheese for the cheese topping on the potato bake. The mozzarella gives us the 'cheese pull' and the colby cheese (or cheddar) gives us more of the 'cheese flavor'.
- Note 10 - Colby cheese: this is an excellent cheese to use as it melts well and has great flavor. Combined with the mozzarella it is a cheese combo to dream of 😁👌. Other options to use are tasty cheese (Aussies) and cheddar cheese (Americans). Or a store bought cheese blend to save time if you wish too.
- Serving size: the nutritional information has been worked out on 8 servings. You may well get more of this depending on how much everyone scoops onto their plates.
Nutrition
Calories: 375kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 121mg | Sodium: 835mg | Potassium: 116mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1189IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 232mg | Iron: 1mg