August 8, 2007
Breakfast for the masses
This past weekend, I entertained 7 guests in a cabin that comfortably holds 5. The prospect of getting up and cooking first bacon or sausage, then eggs, then toast and maybe some potatoes was excruciatingly unappealing considering that the tiny kitchen does not have air-conditioning or a dishwasher.
To the rescue: the one-dish breakfast, a.k.a. the breakfast casserole.
Now, I didn't think much of breakfast casseroles for most of my life. The only memory I had to go on was a dish of soggy toast and eggs brought in to a school party by some well-meaning mom in elementary school. To this day, I still tend to want to avoid breakfast casseroles that start out the ingredient list with "8 slices of white bread."
But I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise if someone out there has a killer recipe.
The one I chose last weekend came from my sister and is called, simply, "Ham and Egg Casserole." I love it because it comes out like a fritatta but can be prepared the night before and requires no stovetop cooking.
It's also a good, basic breakfast casserole recipe because you could easily substitute crumbled, cooked sausage or bacon for the ham, and so on. I added artichokes to mine and substituted Vidalia onion for the green onions and it turned out just fine.
For the recipe, see below. And if you make a great breakfast casserole, do tell!
Ham and Egg Casserole
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded mozzerella
1/2 lb. fresh sliced mushrooms
6 green onions (or so)
1 medium sweet red pepper
2 Tbsp. butter or margerine
1 3/4 cup cubed cooked ham
1/4 cup flour
10 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
Salt and papper to taste
1. Grease 13 by 9-inch pan.
2. Combine cheeses and spread across bottom of pan.
3. Saute vegetables in butter until done. Stir in ham, then spoon the entire mixture over the cheese.
4. In a bowl, mix eggs, milk and salt and pepper. Sift in flour and mix well. Pour over all the vegetables and cheese in the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. The next morning, remove pan from refrigerator and let sit 30 minutes until you bake. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Comments
[August 9, 2007 11:30 AM]
HenryI just grease the casserole dish and beat eggs, half-n-half, cheese, and cooked meat (if desired) together. You can add stuff like peppers and onions or salsa or whatever but the basic recipe is always the same. I don't fool with the bread idea. It's a very flexible recipe.
6 eggs to a cup of H&H. You're going to die of something anyway.
I also buy pre-cooked sausage. I hate dealing with a big pan of grease after cooking sausage.