Cooking with Steemit: Sir Ian McKellen's potato bake

I ran across this screencap on 4chan years ago in an infographic thread. It came from Sir Ian McKellen's AMA thread on Reddit a couple years back. It seemed like such a simple recipe, I had to keep it. And since then, I've made a few variations that turned into something amazing! Part of the joy of cooking is taking something that you've seen made, add your own personal twist to it, and make something similar, but completely your own. I made this last night, and it was a perfect meal for a cold winter day. Let's get cooking!

To make my variation on this, you'll need:
Potatoes
1 block cheddar cheese
sliced ham
1/3 white onion
vegetable oil

Spices:
Garlic
paprika
salt
cayenne pepper

Cut the potatoes into slices. In this recipe, I used 2 Russets.

Normally, I just use regular old sharp cheddar cheese. But since Christmas just came and went, the local Target Store had this amazing smoked cheddar cheese. Of course I'm going to use this! Take a cheese wire and cut the entire block into slices.

This ham came pre-sliced, which was fantastic, until you realize that they're a trifle too big for what we need.

Until you cut them up into smaller pieces! Problem solved! Kitty wanted to help...

Take that 1/3 onion and chop it up. It doesn't need to be too finely chopped, just broken up into bite sized pieces.

Add the onion and a little bit of vegetable oil to the bottom of a glass bakeware dish. We'll put everything else on top of this.

Layer each part, standing them vertically, in the pan. I did potato-ham-cheese, though you can do it however you want. It's your recipe, you're the boss! Part of what makes cooking so awesome is you don't have to do it exactly the way I did it. You find what works best for you, and go with it.

And you just keep going, and going, and going...

Until you fill the pan! Stuff the extras in between the rows. I put potatoes on the outer edge, just to play buffer. Top with the spices. I like lots of garlic, so I add a fair amount on here. Add a dash of paprika and salt, and just a little bit of cayenne pepper to give it some kick. Go easy here, you're not looking to make it super spicy, unless you want it super spicy. In which case, go nuts!

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375°F for 90 minutes.

With about 20 minutes remaining, I pulled the foil off the pan and let the top get a little crispy.

Beautiful! It's a masterpiece! There's just one tiny addition: a small dollop of sour cream over the top when you serve it. Warms your soul on a cold winter day, and it's super easy to make. If you're looking for an easy winter meal, this is fantastic!