By Easter Sunday. April 21st last year, April 1st this year — Easter moves around in a way I find slightly irritating. Colleen doesn't find it irritating; she keeps track of the moveable feast dates the way she keeps track of everything, which is without apparent effort. The coconut cake appeared on Saturday evening because she had started baking Friday, the planning having occurred weeks earlier in some part of her mind that runs the logistics of this family's annual cycles without being asked.
I cooked the ham this year. A bone-in half-ham from the Roundup grocery, which I glazed with apple cider and brown sugar and mustard and roasted slow until the outside caramelized. It came out well. Patrick had two plates. I've been noticing Patrick's appetite has been inconsistent lately — some meals he eats almost nothing and some meals he eats like the man he was at fifty — and the two-plate Easter meals feel like something to be grateful for.
The trip to Salina is in two weeks. I've confirmed with Linda Owens — I wrote back after her letter and said I'd be coming April 16th and would she be available for dinner Tuesday the 16th. She wrote back by postcard: "Yes. 6 PM. 218 Elm Street." A postcard. A Kansas woman communicating on a postcard. Derek had her economy with words. That makes sense.
I'm nervous about the trip in a way I don't want to examine too closely because examining it changes it. So I'm going to leave it alone and just drive south through Wyoming and Nebraska and show up at the cemetery and stand at the headstone and say whatever I say and then drive to 218 Elm Street and knock on the door.
The ham got the attention, but the potatoes were what people kept coming back for — Colleen’s doing, not mine. She had them in the oven while I was pulling the ham out to rest, and they came to the table together the way things do when someone has been quietly running the timing all along. If you’re making a glazed bone-in ham for Easter and you want something next to it that can hold its own, this is the recipe she’d hand you without fanfare.
TRANSITION_STARTPotatoes Supreme
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 20 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 3 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or cooking spray.
- Mix the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, and milk until smooth. Stir in the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and 3/4 cup of the cheddar cheese.
- Layer the potatoes. Add the sliced potatoes to the bowl and fold gently until every slice is coated. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly.
- Top and dot. Scatter the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar and all the Parmesan over the top. Distribute the butter pieces evenly across the surface. Dust with paprika.
- Bake covered. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- Finish uncovered. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling and the potatoes are completely tender when pierced with a knife.
- Rest and serve. Let the dish rest 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh chives.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 520mg