by Randy Graham
Hearty Breakfast Casserole
You have company coming to stay for a couple of days, and they are asking you to make something special for breakfast. Being a good cook and an even better friend, you tell them you have just the recipe. It is made with spinach, onions, mascarpone, Parmesan, eggs, Half-and-Half, and English Muffins. As my friend Lol said when he tasted it, “Chef, you’ve hit it out of the park with this one.”
Makes 6 hearty servings.
Ingredients:
10-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup yellow onion (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
8-ounces mascarpone cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese (grated and divided)
2 teaspoons salt (divided)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (divided)
10 large eggs
1 2/3 cups Half-and-Half
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 English Muffins (split)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Place the spinach on a clean kitchen towel and squeeze firmly over the sink to remove as much liquid as possible. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about four minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the spinach; cook, stirring often and breaking up with a wooden spoon, until it looks dried out, about two minutes. Set aside to cool.
Reserve 1/4 cup of the spinach mixture. Transfer the remaining mixture to a medium bowl. Add mascarpone cheese, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Stir until well combined, then set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Half-and-Half, crushed red pepper, the reserved 1/4 cups of spinach mixture, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper until well combined.
Arrange the bottom halves of the English Muffins in the baking dish in three rows of two. Evenly spread the spinach-mascarpone mixture over the muffins. Cover with the English Muffin tops. Pour the egg mixture over the casserole, then press down on the English Muffins to submerge them. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cups of Parmesan. Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate for at least one hour before baking.
Uncover and bake the casserole in the preheated oven until just set and the tops of the English Muffins are golden brown—about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving so that it sets properly.
Chef Randy Graham, the healthy chef. Providing consistently good vegetarian comfort food recipes. Cookbooks are available at Amazon.
