Sure, you can brunch 365 days a year, but there’s something about spring that inspires us. Perhaps it’s the longer days, the beautiful weather, or the right daytime lighting for you to Instagram your brunch table.
Brunch Table Goals
For me, brunch is a time for my family and friends to gather, eat amazing food, and get day drunk. Let’s face it, we all love brunch because it’s one of the few occasions you can get day drunk without judgement or a possible intervention.
But preparing for an epic brunch may be an arduous task. You have to prep early and sometimes even the night before, make sure your house is brunch-proof (i.e. hide that box of tampons in your bathroom because it’s not decoration, you heathen), and design a spread that inspires someone to stand on a chair in order to take a photo. If this happens to you, you’ve won brunch.
So when I throw a brunch party, I tend to focus more on preparing my home and my table. I encourage my guests to BYO and keep my own dishes simple. What’s simple to me? Anything that has limited ingredients, easy to prep and put together, but doesn’t skimp on flavor. After many years of brunching, I’ve perfected my ultimate basic bitch brunch casserole.
It makes sense if you’re a Jay-Z fan.
Why did this dish earn the title of ultimate? It’s easy to prep – only six ingredients you pretty much have already in your kitchen, simple to put together, can feed a large number of people, and the amount of time it takes to bake gives you the opportunity to get your home brunch ready and/or work on increasing your mimosa tolerance.
Julie’s Ultimate Basic Bitch Brunch Casserole
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 9 eggs
- 2 cups of either diced ham or breakfast sausage, cut
- 1 cup of milk (Yes, you can use low fat but you’re already using 9 eggs so that’s like getting a Diet Coke to wash down your Big Mac.)
- 2-3 cups of shredded cheese, cheddar preferably
- 1 bag of diced (otherwise known as “southern style”) hash browns or, if you’re a hipster, tater tots
- 1/8 – 1/4 tsp of salt (Don’t over salt this casserole. People will hate you.)
- 1/4 tsp of ground mustard (Optional – One time, I didn’t have ground mustard for this, AND NO ONE COULD TASTE THE DIFFERENCE.)
- A 13″x 9″ baking dish. My favorite? This Kate Spade one because if we’re going basic bitch this Spring season, we’re going full throttle:
Get Ready to (Not Really) Cook:
- Grease (or douse it in Pam because who’s got time for that butter nonsense) your baking dish, and cover the bottom with a layer of either the diced hash browns or tater tots.
- Place the dish in the oven and set the temperature for 350. This helps prevent the potatoes from getting to mushy during the cooking process.
- In a large bowl, crack open those 9 eggs (Julie cooking tip #1: If you get a bit of eggshell in the mix, use a large piece of shell to scoop it out of the bowl). Add the milk, salt and mustard to the eggs and whisk until blended. There’s your workout for the day. You deserve a sip of a mimosa.
- Once the oven reaches full temperature, take the dish out – Don’t forget to use oven mitts! – and add either the diced ham or cut up sausage on top of the potatoes.
- Sprinkle the cheese on top of the dish. Do this quickly because the pan will start melting the cheese.
- Evenly pour the egg mixture over the entire dish. (Julie cooking tip #2: With your oven mitts on, gently shake the pan to help the mixture settle.)
- Cover the dish with tin foil and pop it into the oven for 60 minutes.
- After an hour, remove the tin foil and let it continue to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes before removing.
To all my brunchers out there, Happy Brunch Season! If you make this, let me know! Remember, if you’re drinking while making this, drink responsibly and make sure you save some casserole to soak up the alcohol.
