Egg & Cheese Casserole

This recipe appeared in a Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church cookbook under the name “Jean Corey’s Egg Casserole” and with the recommendation that “this casserole has become a tradition and a favorite for the Thursday morning Women’s Bible Study spring brunch.”

Here at the House of Chez Casa, for a large brunch we sometimes make two: one with breakfast meat (sausage, small ham cubes, vel sim.) and one vegetarian. Conveniently, a recipe and a half makes two 9 x 9 pans’ worth. Just stir up everything else, pour half into one buttered 9 x 9 casserole dish, add meat to the stuff still in the bowl, mix that up, and pour into the other buttered dish.

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Beat 10 eggs in a large bowl & set aside.
• Melt 1 stick (8 Tbsp, ½ c.) butter in a saucepan.
• Stir in
  • ½ c. flour, 
  • 1 tsp baking powder, and
  • ½ tsp salt.
• Add the flour mixture to the eggs & mix well.
• Add
  • 1 lb. shredded cheese (Jean’s recipe calls for Monterrey Jack; I prefer a very sharp cheddar),
  • 1 pt. small curd cottage cheese (I often have to make do with a 12 oz. container), and
  • 8 oz. large green chiles, drained, diced, seeded (Jean also rinses for a milder flavor; I often just open diced chiles, strain them & dump them in; sometimes I don’t even strain them).
  • Optional breakfast meats (often a tube of breakfast sausage, scrambled up ahead of time) should also be added at this stage.
• Pour into a 9 x 13 pan.
• Bake for 40 minutes.
• Let rest for 5 minutes. (Jean’s recipe calls for baking 30 minutes and no rest. I think her oven may run a bit on the hot side. We have made this in three different ovens, and all of them needed 40 minutes to set and then a rest.)
• Serve with salsa.

That’s it. It’s always a crowd pleaser. And it’s even better with the sausage!