My First Attempt at Scalloped Potatoes

Well, you'd be looking at frozen bubbles right now if conditions had been optimal for that. While it started out cold on this morning, it warmed up too quickly in the backyard, and I couldn't get crystals to form in any of my bubbles.

One or two of them sort of crystalled up just as they popped, which was weird and unfulfilling. And two days before, it had been the wind that popped all of my bubbles. Oh well, the frozen bubble days may be done for the year. It was a good run while it lasted!

A thing I DID see, though - and I can't believe I'm telling you this, double-EEK!!! - was mice having wild, hot sex in the nearby woods. Yes, you heard me right: randy rodents doing the dirty deed with squeaky enthusiasm, forcing me to unwillingly watch rodent porn in the early hours of a Sunday morning. (Brain bleach, please!) And no, I didn't get any photos of that, though I did try.

So, thwarted at photographing both frozen bubbles and hot rodent porn (come on, how often do you get to start a sentence with those words?!?), when I made scalloped potatoes for the first time in the afternoon, I took some photos, and so this is my photo for the day: the beautiful, golden haze on top of the finished product.

I'll put a link to the recipe here, and if you can't see it for some reason, please message me and I'll cut and paste the directions in. My ingredients were: about six medium-sized russet potatoes, a cup and a half of milk, three tablespoons of butter, three tablespoons of flour, a cup and a half of shredded cheddar, and salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.

I peeled and sliced the potatoes thin, and made a roux of the butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar. I divided the potatoes in half and put half down into a greased 9" by 9" Pyrex baking pan, poured half of the cheese mixture on top, layered the other half of the potatoes, and then the other half of the cheese mixture. I sprinkled a half-cup of cheddar and a shake of paprika on top. Into the oven it went at 350 degrees for an hour.

We served this as a side dish to a Sunday ham dinner that also featured cauliflower. The meal was quite simple, really, but very nice. I'd say my first effort on the scalloped potatoes went pretty well and was a success, but I also have some ideas about how to spiff it up a little.

My potatoes were still a little crispy even after an hour, so one of those things I'd recommend is to pop it back in the oven for at least another 15 minutes beyond the stated hour. I could also try to get my potatoes sliced even thinner next time, so they soften up more quickly. (A friend also suggests par-boiling the potatoes in advance of baking them, for more tender potatoes.)

We have been attempting to cut back on all sodium at our house, which means eating fewer canned, processed, and frozen foods, and adding pretty much NO salt to any dish, not even vegetables. So I used just a shake of salt and a shake of pepper and a shake of paprika in my dish; I think next time, I would be a little more liberal on that side of things. I could also see a bit of Parmesan cheese on top. . . . ANY excuse to add more cheese!

The song for this day, which started out cold and sort of strangely but ended up with a nice hot side dish, is this one: Foreigner, with Hot Blooded. (And I guess it could also describe the randy rodents!)