Tried and True: Breakfast Casserole

The weekends have toned down a bit and I haven’t found myself with much culinary imagination in the kitchen – that was until I happened to come across Jaime Deen’s new show, Home for Dinner, and he was making brunch for the family. Now when I’m wrong, I will say I’m wrong and, after watching Jaime’s new show, I was totally wrong. Before I saw the show, I thought his show was going to be a somewhat recycled version of the cooking show formula and it really wasn’t. He cooks with whole ingredients, gives some good cooking tips and, quite frankly, I will watch again. I was really inspired by this episode.

One dish he made was a breakfast bake and I wanted to take that idea and transition it into something that my family would enjoy. While at Whole Paychex, I saw some divine roasted red pepper and garlic sausage and, with some smoked mozzarella and freshly baked sourdough, I went to town Sunday morning. I think the hardest part was waiting for the bread to soak up all of the creamy egg custard. I also used 4 egg whites in addition to 2 eggs and I think that was the perfect touch. The leftovers were perfect the next day for a light lunch and this hit the tried and true file.

There’s something warm and comforting about making this for the family. This is a dish that would be perfect for your next brunch or leisurely weekend breakfast and, quite frankly, I don’t see why you couldn’t make it the night before and bake it off in the morning. Bookmark this and, the next time you want something that kicks the socks off the typical eggs and bacon breakfast, use this as inspiration with ingredients you love.

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound of your favorite sausage (I used roasted red pepper and garlic sausage), casings removed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 - 1 loaf of sourdough bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
4 egg whites
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 cups of grated smoked mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 1/2 cups of low-fat milk
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Spray a 3-4 quart baking dish with non-stick baking spray (or grease with a little bit of butter)
In a large skillet, saute the onions and red pepper until they are softened a bit.
Add the sausage and brown.
To the baking dish, add the bread cubes.
Layer the sausage, onion and pepper mixture over the bread cubes.
Follow that layer with 1 1/2 cups of cheese
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, smoked paprika, milk and cream, adding a bit of salt and pepper.
Pour the egg custard mixture over the layers of bread, sausage and cheese and let soak for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
Pull the casserole out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature (about 10 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
Add the remaining cheese over the top of the casserole and place the casserole in the oven.
Let bake for an hour or so, until puffed and golden and a knife in the center comes out clean.
Let cool for about 10 minutes and then serve.
Enjoy!

Notes

Adapted from Jaime Deen

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