Recipe Wednesday: Bacon Tomatillo Breakfast Casserole

I used to work at a magazine with a bunch of really nice people. As it happened to turn out, two of those really nice people (Diane of dwelement and Troy of strong odors) ended up leaving the magazine around the same time I did. We all left to go indie which, as you might know, can be a little frightening. So to help make the transition a little easier, we started meeting semi-regularly for what we call R&D (research & development). Usually held in the morning, it's a time for us to talk about our current and upcoming projects, exchange concerns and ideas, and just shoot the breeze. It's also a time for us to eat delicious breakfast foods.

Welp, this week it was my turn to host, and not wanting to slouch in the brekkie doo department, I did me a little research. Initially, I planned on making scrambled eggs with tomatillos from SimplyRecipes.com (my new food blog obsession), but considering a number of circumstances, decided to morph most of those ingredients into an easy to make, bake and serve casserole that, I must say, was a suprisingly smashing success. Sometimes my food "intuition" is overreaching and fails miserably, but not this time! The smokiness of the bacon, salty cheese and tart tomatillos were perfect with the custardy, yeasty egg & bread mixture. Perfect for cabin, cottage or company breakfast ... highly recommended for enjoyment in PJ pants with hair askew.

BACON TOMATILLO BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

16 slices bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
4 1/2 cups cubed bread (can be day old)
2 cups shredded queso fresco (or provolone)
10 eggs slightly beaten
4 cups 2% or whole milk
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Fresh ground pepper to taste
3-4 medium tomatillos, sliced
1 jalapeno (or canned/jarred equivalent), ribbed (and seeded, if you'd like your spicy stuff milder)

Place bread cubes in a well-buttered 9x13 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with cheese.

Combine the eggs, milk, dry mustard, garlic powder and pepper. Pour evenly over the bread and cheese. Sprinkle bacon, tomatillos and jalapeno on top.

At this stage, if you want to prepare ahead, you can cover and chill overnight. If baking immediately, let sit for 10 minutes before putting in the oven.

Preheat oven to 325º. Bake uncovered for about one hour. Tent with foil if top begins to brown too quickly.

Serves 6-8


And that's it for this week, my friends. Hope you like it as much as we did. And now, I'm off to treasure hunt!