Maple Sausage And Waffle Breakfast Casserole
Well, things are very busy here, entertaining my mother-in-law. I haven't had time to visit all my favorite blogs and I miss them. I haven't cooked a lot, but I can share this surprisingly good dish I made for Rosa's Sunday Breakfast Meme this past Sunday. I thought about making a strata, but happened to see this Maple Sausage and Waffle Breakfast Casserole recipe in The Best Of America's Top Kitchen and decided to make it instead. Frankly, I was a little skeptical. But, the recipe was very good, not greasy or heavy. In fact, it tasted less rich than the strata recipes I've made that use lots of cream and high fat cheese. I certainly don't have any illusions that this is a low fat dish, but it didn't have that heavy, overly rich taste of some breakfast casseroles. How did it taste? Well, it tasted like waffles with maple sausage. The eggs and cheese didn't overwhelm the flavor or texture and the waffles weren't soggy. We all enjoyed this dish very much.
Here is the finished casserole after it came out of the oven. It was a little puffy, but the waffles weren't submerged in egg custard. I liked that, frankly. I love stratas, but I think the waffles need to stand out here, and they did.
Warning! This dish was very popular. You might need to double it and cook it in a 9 X 13 inch pan, to avoid fights.
Maple Sausage And Waffle Breakfast Casserole
(Cook's Illustrated)
Note: After their typical exhaustive research, Cook's determined that Eggo Homestyle waffles worked best. So, I used them. Don't use thick Belgium style waffles, which will make the casserole taste dry.
Ingredients
6-8 frozen Eggo homestyle Waffles
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
12 ounces Maple Sausage (pork or turkey)
6 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375-degees and toast waffles on a baking sheet on both
sides for about 10 minutes. Brown sausage until no longer pink and
drain on paper towels. Coat an 8 X 8 inch square baking dish with
non-stick spray or butter. Arrange 4 waffles in the bottom and sprinkle
with half the sausage and half the cheese. Repeat layer, with remaining
waffles, sausage and cheese. Wisk eggs and milk in a bowl with the syrup, salt,
and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the waffles layers. Cover with
plastic wrap and set a weight on top. (I used another square pan set
on top of the plastic wrap, with canned food set in the empty pan.)
Refrigerate over night or for at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to
325-degrees, uncover casserole and bake 45 to 50 minutes until edges are
puffy. Cool 5 minutes and serve. Serves 4-6.
The waffles look fantastic and I dearly love waffles of any sort...
But my eye is really drawn to those wonderful fresh berries.
Posted by: Katiez | June 06, 2007 at 01:05 AM
Oh wow! After grabbing on the go foods every morning, I forgot how good breakfast can be.
Posted by: Butta Buns | June 06, 2007 at 06:41 AM
Holy catz...what an inspired idea! Still needs syrup though ;)
Posted by: Jeff | June 06, 2007 at 08:07 AM
I love strata, but this... what a clever idea and delicious! Have fun entertaining.
Posted by: Callipygia | June 06, 2007 at 08:49 AM
It's photos like this that make me seriously think of abandoning my diet forever!
Posted by: Kalyn | June 06, 2007 at 09:49 AM
This looks delicious...would love it
Posted by: sandeepa | June 06, 2007 at 10:46 AM
That looks fantastic! I bet I could easily eat 2 servings of these without batting a eyelash!
Posted by: Helen | June 06, 2007 at 11:10 AM
Seriously - that looks DELICIOUS! I am for sure going to make it the next time I have access to those ingredients and an oven! Yummification, Sher!
Posted by: Jenn | June 06, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Anthony makes a puffy cheese bake which is similar to this but with bread. I've done it with croissants too, but the waffles are the living end. I shared your post around to friends and family because I know at least siz people who'll want to make it after seeing yours! Thank you!
Posted by: Claudia | June 06, 2007 at 04:43 PM
That looks deliciously wonderful! Very interesting too!
Posted by: Jennifer | June 06, 2007 at 05:21 PM
Cool,
And I just learned that the word "gopher" is related to "waffle"!
Posted by: the chocolate lady (eve) | June 06, 2007 at 07:57 PM
At first it didn't sound too good, but the more I looked at it and read your description...sounded pretty darn good! I wish I had your cooking talents. Then again...I probably wouldn't stop eating!
Posted by: begered | June 06, 2007 at 08:54 PM
This dish sounds amazing. I love my breakfast foods to intermingle as much as possible, but strangely find the same intermingling a turn off with foods outside the breakfast realm. I'm bookmarking this recipe now. Your stomach monster calming down?
Posted by: e | June 07, 2007 at 07:47 AM
I'm coming to your house for breakfast! Like you, at first I thought it sounded a little heavy, maybe, or odd, but the finished product looks divine. I'll be stealing this next time I have company. Yum!
Posted by: Glenna | June 07, 2007 at 08:22 AM
Oh, my husband would love this, Sher! Excellent entry!
Posted by: Susan from Food Blogga | June 08, 2007 at 09:56 AM
Mmmm, maple syrup, waffles and sausage...you can't go wrong.
Posted by: peabody | June 09, 2007 at 01:00 AM
OMG, that looks sooo good.
Posted by: Ming the Merciless | June 13, 2007 at 12:10 AM