Cooking With Rod's Family

 

 

 

 

 

 By Melinda Cohenour

 

 

 

 

 

Brunch has always been my favorite meal. A lovely, lazy, comfy, leisurely meal that is specially prepared with one's favorite foodstuffs, perhaps made special because of the variety of breakfast meats, the naughty addition of confections - those delightful sugary excesses one simply doesn't include in their typical breaking of the fast. No. Not the every day, ordinary, quickly prepared fix-it-in-your-sleep, dash-out-the-door food. Brunch: time to flex your creative chef muscle and create magic. 

My daughter Melissa served one of those delicious wonders recently using the ingredients for one of my favorite dishes - the French Omelette. But prepared to serve a crowd without relinquishing any of the quality. Here's how it was done.

Melissa's Baked Omelette Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb bacon, fried crisp and crumbled 

18 eggs

Butter to grease the casserole dish 

2 or 3 cans biscuits 

1 lb freshly grated Cheddar cheese (Swiss cheese if you want, your choice) divided as directed below 

Butter to saute the fresh veggies 

1 green Bell pepper diced 

1 red Bell pepper diced 

1 small sweet Vidalia onion diced

2 bunches green onions rinsed, root ends trimmed and set in the fridge to crisp 

1/2 to 1 cup milk as needed to achieve proper thickness of omelette before baking

Dash of ground black pepper, to taste

**Dash of ground sage adds a nice taste 

Instructions:

1. Grease 9x13-inch casserole dish. Preheat oven to 375° F

2. Prepare bacon, cooking to an even crispness (fry or microwave or broil, your preferred method). Drain on paper towels then crumble 

3. Saute diced Bell peppers and Vidalia onion diced fine until onion is translucent and peppers are soft. Add some of the green onion bulb, reserving the diced crisp leaves and part of the diced bulb

4. Whisk eggs with a little less than half the grated cheese, leaving plenty to top the dish for a yummy, cheesy top to the casserole. Whisk until eggs are a creamy pale yellow. Stir in crumbled bacon, sauted veggies and fresh green onion, reserving a bit of both the bacon and fresh green onion to garnish the finished dish before serving. Add milk as needed to accomplish the omelette texture you desire. Season the mixture with ground black pepper and sage

5. Roll biscuits as thin as possible to ensure a light pastry-like dough. Line the greased casserole dish, sides and bottom. (I believe one might use puff pastry or canned crescent roll dough to form the pie dough base for this dish as well)

6. Pour omelette mixture over biscuit base. Add a healthy amount of grated cheese to ensure a yummy cheesy top on your finished dish. Bake in preheated oven until omelette is set and dough is nicely browned

7. Garnish finished casserole evenly with reserved bacon and green onion. Cut in squares to serve. Serves 8 nicely

This dish is enhanced by the addition of fresh slices of melon, or oranges sliced and curled artistically, even a minted fruit melange. Plenty of hot coffee, fruit juice, and perhaps hot chocolate for the kids. A sugary confection would provide just the perfect finale to this brunch.

Bon appetit~~!

 

Melissa
 

 

---

This issue appears in the ezine in the blog www.pencilstubs.net at Google Blogger with the capability of adding comments at the latter.

---