I always have access to a lot of South West Ingredients since I live in Phoenix Arizona. So today I made a South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole.  This is another one that’s hard for me to photo. This photo doesn’t show how good it really is. It was too hot to photo when I made it and I didn’t want to photo it completely cold but I couldn’t wait for it to set…so I got it when it was cooling off. This casserole is a little spicy but really delicious. My husband said it smelled so good he had to eat a plate full of it before it set. He kept saying this is really good. This IS REALLY GOOD….REALLY GOOD..I think 98% of the adult population would love to eat this. One of my tricks to making something really cheesy is to use the very minimum of butter and fat in a dish like this. Now this is not because I’m trying to make diet food in any way…….the reason I cut way back on butter and use fat free milk is because too much fat in a dish like this will make the sauce break so I only used one ounce of butter and non fat milk so I could use more delicious cheese. Should you have leftovers this freezes perfectly.

Ingredients for about 16 portions.

2 1/2 cups non fat milk

1/4 cup corn starch

1 oz unsalted butter

9 oz sharp cheddar cheese – shredded

5 oz pepper jack cheese – shredded

4 oz cheese – shredded – (I always throw in whatever ends of left over cheese I have..this time was some camembert that had little flavor)

1 1/2 Tablespoons cayenne hot sauce – preferably Franks Red Hot

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 eggs – lightly beaten

1 large sweet onion – sliced very thin on a mandolin and then chopped roughly (you want small pieces but it doesn’t need to be minced but you can mince if you want to)

1 Tablespoon course sea salt – to season potatoes

1 teaspoon ground black pepper – to season potatoes

3 lbs potatoes (brown)

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

1 jalapeno – roasted or fried and chopped well

1 tomato – diced – roasted or fried

non stick spray

1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded (for topping)

1 cup panko  bread crumbs – for topping

pinch ground white pepper – for topping

pinch cayenne pepper – for topping

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a half pan or large baking dish and spray with non stick spray. You need foil to cover the pan and you need to spray the bottom of the foil that sits against the food.

Put a sauce pot on medium heat and melt the butter.  In a pitcher mix the milk and cornstarch together. Mix till incorporated. When the butter is melted add the milk/corn starch mixture. You need to whisk this till the mixture is very thick and it must boil or your sauce will fail. Once the mixture is thick and IT DID BOIL turn the heat down to low and add all the shredded cheese and stir. Once almost all the cheese is melted you can shut off the heat. and take pan off burner. To the cheese sauce you need to add the cayenne sauce, paprika, cayenne and white pepper. Mix well and set to the side.

In a very large bowl add the onions. Peel potatoes one at a time and slice them up thin on a mandolin ONE AT A TIME. You need to mix each potato one at a time with the onions because the onions will keep the potatoes from browning. Repeat peeling and slicing the potatoes and mixing each potato threw the onions until you are out of potatoes. Add the sea salt and black pepper to season the potatoes and mix well. To the potato bowl add the scallions, jalapeño and tomato and mix well.

By now your cheese sauce shouldn’t be too hot. Whisk in your lightly beaten eggs.

Now pour the cheese mixture into your potato bowl……if your bowl isn’t big enough you might need to use a second bowl.

Mix well but careful not to break the potatoes and pour into sprayed pan.

In a small bowl mix the panko with the parmesan cheese and pinches of cayenne and ground white pepper. Then spread the crumb mixture over the top of the potatoes evenly.

This needs to be covered with foil and you need to add non stick spray to the bottom of the foil so it doesn’t stick.

Then the pan goes in the 350 degree F oven for at about 90 minutes or until center potatoes are tender. At 75 minutes you need to remove the foil cover so it can brown. A total of about 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes in my oven with the top foil removed at 75 minutes the casserole looked like this.

This is HOT with MOLTEN HOT CHEESE! Even after one hour it is still MOLTEN HOT. Leave on the counter at least an hour and one half. Refrigerate over night (just like lasagna) to set.

This is FORKING GREAT!

You’re Welcome.