Scalloped Potatoes

Sometimes I find recipes in the strangest places. Some come to me when I'm thinking about food...which is pretty much all the time. My husband is always kidding me about how much I think about and plan around food. Sometimes I'll catch a recipe in a magazine or see one in a blog that I need to try. Lots of times you will see me scouring through cookbooks looking for inspiration. But rarely will you see me boast about a recipe that I find in a Nora Roberts novel. Well...here one is.

I haven't been feeling the best so I've been hibernating with a few books that my friend Kathy sent over to keep my mind occupied. One of those books is Angels Fall, written by Nora Roberts. It's not a great epic novel or something that I would tell someone they have to read right now...but it had some pretty yummy and basic recipes at the end. So I tried one. And it was REALLY YUMMY! Like...super duper yummy and now I want it all the time good.

So I am sharing. It's simple, stick to your ribs scalloped potatoes. Nothing fancy, nothing hard but pure bliss. Plan ahead because while it's not hard to make it does take about an hour and a half to cook. But make it soon because it's simply delish. Enjoy!



Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients

6-8 medium potatoes
4 tbsp all purpose flour
fresh ground pepper
onion salt
garlic salt
dried oregano (*be generous)
4 tbsp butter
2 1/2 cups scalded milk (milk heated to just boiling)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Thinly slice the potatoes and place in bowl of cold water to help keep them from turning brown as you slice them. (I used the slicing part of a box grater and it worked out perfect!)
3. Grease a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.
4. Drain potatoes really well. You might even want to pat them dry just a bit to get off any excess water.
5. Layer 1/4 of the potatoes in the bottom of the casserole dish.
6. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of the flour over potato layer.
7. Sprinkle a little of each of the spices (garlic salt, onion salt, oregano & pepper) over potatoes.
8. Dot with 1 tbsp of the butter.
9. Repeat the layers until you have four layers of potatoes, flour, spices & butter.
10. Pour hot milk over potatoes.
11. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350.
12. Uncover and continue baking for one hour, using the back of a wooden spoon to push down every 20 minutes. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

Garnish with fresh or dried parsley (as pictured), fresh chives or anything else you might think of.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Notes: If you have any extra ham laying around you can add that into the layers and make this into a main dish instead of just a side dish. I am also pretty sure shredded cheeses would make a wonderful addition...I just haven't tried those yet.