Ham and Swiss Casserole

Grandma called these scalloped potatoes, but hers took longer to fix and probably had a lot more calories!

Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 cups nonfat milk
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 20 oz. bag refrigerated sliced home-style potatoes*
• 4 oz. deli sliced ham, torn into small pieces
• 4 oz. reduced-fat Swiss cheese, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Coat a 9-inch square baking pan or dish with cooking spray.
2. In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat oil.  Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6 minutes.  Whisk in milk, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook and stir until mixture thickens and begins to boil, about 7 minutes.  Remove from heat.
3. Over bottom of the prepared pan, arrange half the potatoes in a slightly overlapping layer.  Sprinkle evenly with ham and ½ of the cheese.  Pour ½ of the milk mixture evenly over the cheese.  Layer remaining potatoes.  Pour remaining milk mixture over and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.  Cover with foil.
4. Bake 40 minutes, uncover and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until the top is slightly browned and the potatoes are tender.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

*If you can’t find the refrigerated sliced potatoes in your market, scrub, peel and slice 1 ½ lbs. Washington Russet potatoes.  Place in large saucepan with cold water to cover.  Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to simmer and simmer about 4 minutes, or until potatoes are just barely tender.  Drain well.

Nutritional Analysis per serving:  345 calories, 22 g protein, 44 g carbohydrates, 10 g fat, 4 g saturated fat (25% of calories from fat), 28 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 601 mg sodium.

Washington State Potatoes