Sure and all, this is technically a breakfast casserole (think strada, but waaay better), but we thoroughly enjoyed ours at dinner on a drizzly Sunday evening.
See… I had a half of a bag of thawed tater tots sitting in the fridge, leftover from making a batch of Cheesy Sex Tots to a friend’s house for an evening of playing games and sipping cocktails; and, I had a recipe I’d found on the interwebs for a breakfast casserole that looked good, but I had a few issues with it.
First.
Boring!
Minimal seasoning and no veggies. Well, I resolved to fix that; and, while I was at it, cut back on the eggs, subbed in heavy cream for milk, and ended up with, if I do say so myself, one fine tater tot casserole.
For whenever you choose to eat it.
INGREDIENTS
•12 oz sage breakfast sausage
•1/2 cup diced celery
•1 cup diced sweet onion
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce*
•1 (4 oz) jar diced pimiento, drained
•14 oz (1/2 bag) Tater Tots, thawed
•1 cup smoked Swiss cheese, shredded
•1/2 cup Chipotle Cheddar cheese, shredded
•5 eggs
•1 cup heavy cream
•1 tsp dried parsley
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1/4 tsp garlic powder
•1/4 tsp dry mustard
•1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce*
•Freshly chopped parsley
*Or, your fave hot sauce, to taste.
No Sherry Peppers? No problem! Feel free to skip it, or, mebbe add a shot or three of decent sherry.
Cook the pork sausage in a large, deep skillet over medium high heat, along with the onion and celery for about five minutes, breaking up the pork into small pieces as you cook.
Stir in the Sherry Peppers Sauce and Cajun Power sauce and continue to cook, stirring often, until the sausage is cooked through, a bit crispity in spots, and most cooking liquids/fat have been cooked off.
Stir in the pimiento, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Heat your oven to 350º and whisk the eggs together with the cream, seasonings, and additional Cajun Power sauce until smooth.
Add the tater tots and the 1/2 cup each of the cheeses to the cooled sausage mixture and toss until nicely combined.
Grease a rectangular 2-1/2 quart baking pan and add the tot mixture, leveling it off as you are adding it to the pan.
Pour the seasoned egg mixture evenly over the sausage and tots in the pan, making sure to pour it evenly over the entire casserole.
Pop into the hot oven and bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded smoked Swiss cheese over the top.
Return to the oven and continue to bake for another ten to 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is a bit bubbly.
Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes before serving – topped with those freshly chopped parsley leaves.
YUM!
Note: don’t have smoked Swiss or chipotle Cheddar cheeses? Go with what you have on hand; all cheese is good, right?