I’m disappointed by the photos of this ham casserole, but I was lucky to get them at all. If my daughter hadn’t said at the very last minute “Mom, didn’t you want to take pictures of that?” I wouldn’t even have these to show you. I swear I’m going to get a GoPro camera and attach it to a head band so I don’t forget to get those last photos before a dish is served. I do it over and over….and over. I get so concerned about getting everything to the table hot that all other thoughts just pop out of my brain. Aside from all that, this is one of our favorite brunch dishes and the beauty of it is that it can be made the day before. It has all the essential Easter brunch or dinner ingredients: ham, asparagus, and cheese and the leftovers are worth fighting over…so to avoid that I usually make extra so there are small servings for the kids to take home.
Ham, asparagus, cheese and rice are rolled up in a slice of ham, covered with a rich, creamy cheese sauce, topped with grated Gruyere and cheddar cheeses and baked until bubbly golden brown.
I bought ham at my local German deli that was sliced just thick enough to hold together but not so thick that the slices won’t easily roll up. They cut several for me to make sure they were just right. A pound and a half of ham yielded 15 nice slices. I have tried using spiral cut ham (too thick) and slicing bone-in unsliced ham but I can’t get uniformly thin large slices.
A small amount of cheese sauce is mixed with cooked rice and spread on a ham slice. The asparagus was small so I used 4 spears in each roll. Roll up the ham slice and secure with a toothpick if necessary.
Lay them in a buttered casserole dish, seam side down. Leave a tiny bit of room between rolls for a little cheese sauce to ooze down in the space as the dish bakes.
Cover the roll ups with cheese sauce and a generous amount of grated cheese. We like a combination of Gruyere and cheddar.
If the ham rolls have been refrigerated let them come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before putting them in a 350 degree oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cheese has melted and is nicely brown and bubbly. I served this with buttered herbed white rice, a fruit salad, deviled eggs,homemade rolls and an almond caramel tart (recipe coming soon).
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon onion salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup swiss cheese, grated
- 1-1/2 cup cooked rice
- 10-12 slices good quality cooked ham, sliced thick enough to hold together when rolled
- 24-32 fresh asparagus spears, roasted and cooled
- 1 cup grated Swiss cheese (preferably Gruyere) mixed with
- ½ cup grated cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top of unbaked casserole
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour, nutmeg and salt. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Stir in milk and cook, stirring until thickened. Add 1 cup swiss cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Blend ¾ cup sauce into the cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread equal amounts of rice mixture on ham slices. Top with 3 or 4 asparagus spears, roll ham around the filling and secure with toothpicks if necessary.
- Arrange rolls in shallow baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over rolls and top with grated Swiss cheese and Gruyere. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and heated through, about 25-30 minutes.
