Tag Archives: egg bake

Asparagus Egg Bake for Two brings comfort to a cloudy, wet morning

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Large pans filled with a billowy mixture of oven-baked eggs, bread and vegetables is always a good choice for breakfast when you need to feed a crowd of hungry sleepyheads. But what about feeding just two people who love to sleep in on a cool, cloudy, drizzly no-work-day morning? Just have a couple of ramekins of Asparagus Egg Bake in the refrigerator.

While the water is heating for the French press and bacon is sizzling in a cast-iron skillet on the stove, two ramekins filled to the top with layers of chunks of English muffins, cheese, eggs, asparagus and chives can be baking in the oven. What a way to start the day.

Several spears of fresh asparagus that had been roasted to eat with grilled steaks were in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator when I decided to put together a couple of breakfast dishes to have on hand during the long holiday weekend. In the refrigerator, I knew they would be good for a few days, if necessary.

This morning was cool, dark and dreary — perfect for turning on the oven to heat up my chilly kitchen. I had thought about layering bits of crispy bacon into the egg-bakes, but decided against using the quality Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon I’d discovered at my local grocery store last week. I wanted to eat slices, fried to crispness, alongside my egg-bake.

According to the weather predictions, we can expect a cool, wet summer. I’ll be keeping this recipe handy. Any summer-fresh vegetables, slightly cooked, can be layered into this dish. Experiment with a variety of your favorite herbs and cheeses.

What looks like an awful morning — dark clouds, rain, and chill — can turn into something quite wonderful with Asparagus Egg Bake for Two. And then, back to bed for a little more sleep as the raindrops pitter-patter on the roof.

Asparagus Egg Bake for Two

  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon butter, melted
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 English muffins, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
  • 6 asparagus spears, cooked crisp-tender, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh chives

Lightly grease the inside of two (10- to 12-ounce) ramekins. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, butter and some salt and pepper.

Put 1/4 of the English muffin pieces into bottom of each ramekin. Layer with 2 tablespoons grated cheese in each, 1/2 of asparagus pieces in each one, 1 teaspoon of chives in each ramekin, and top with remaining pieces of English muffin. Slowly pour egg mixture over layers, using half of it for each ramekin. Cover ramekins with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove plastic wrap from ramekins. Place ramekins on a small baking sheet to catch any drips that my slip over the sides. You don’t want to start the day with a smoky kitchen. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until egg mixture is set. Serve hot. Makes 2 servings.

 

Morels are secret ingredient in Wild Rice Baked Eggs

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I just got home from spending a couple of days away with a group of friends. Imagine a dozen women in one house for a sleepover. Lots of chatter, laughter and food.

Breakfast this morning was an egg bake. It wasn’t the typical egg bake made with lots of bread, eggs, cream of something soup and cheese. This breakfast dish was something special.

The woman who prepared Minnesota Wild Rice Egg Bake for our large group has a lake home on an island in Lake of the Woods. The wild rice she used was gathered there. The mushrooms that she stirred into the eggs and rice were not mushrooms she purchased from the grocery store. She used morels that she had gathered herself somewhere in North Dakota. Of course, like every other morel hunter, she would not tell us exactly where she found the prized mushrooms. It’s always a secret.

The recipe, though, is not a secret. My friend had clipped the recipe a few years ago from a Minnesota Monthly magazine. It had been shared by the owners of a Bed and Breakfast Inn in Chaska, Minnesota.

Ann mixed all the ingredients together earlier in the week in her own kitchen. She baked them in individual ramekins and stored them in the refrigerator. This morning, she put all the chilled ramekins in a couple of baking pans with a little water on the bottom of each pan. She covered them and warmed them in an oven heated to a low temperature. At serving time, the warm egg mixture slid easily out of each ramekin. With some fresh fruit and bite-sized muffins (all washed down with yummy mimosas) made by another person in our group, we had a delicious breakfast.

If you are a lucky person who has successfully foraged for morels, you could use some of them to flavor this egg bake. If you don’t have morels, of course you can use your favorite fresh mushrooms from the grocery store.

Minnesota Wild Rice Baked Eggs are the answer when you need to feed a large group for breakfast or brunch. This recipe was doubled to feed a dozen hungry women.

P.S. I’ve foraged for morels just once. It was a couple of years ago. I took these pictures of the unusual-looking morels. I can’t tell you where they are, though. I was sworn to secrecy.

Minnesota Wild Rice Baked Eggs

  • 1/2 pound bacon
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 5 to 6 green onions, chopped
  • 3/4 cup cooked wild rice
  • 3 ounces (3/4 cup)shredded Swiss cheese
  • 2 ounces (1/2 cup) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup herb-seasoned stuffing mix
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 9 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1-1/2 cups whipping cream or half-and-half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 5 to 8 individual remekins or one 9-inch square baking dish. Cut bacon into small pieces; fry until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Reserve a small amount of bacon fat in pan. Add butter to pan. Over medium heat saute mushrooms and green onions until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine wild rice, cheese, stuffing mix, parsley, nutmeg, eggs and cream. Add mushrooms, green onions and fried bacon. Place mixture into prepared ramekins or baking dish.

Bake 30 minutes for individual ramekins or 40 to 45 minutes for 9-inch square baking dish. Makes 6 to 8 servings.