For his birthday recently, we had some friends over for a brunch.
Since we had just had another group of friends over for Easter dinner, my husband thought that a brunch would be just the thing; and, since we still had some of that lovely Snoop Dogg Ham leftover, I went in search of ham-based brunch recipes.
Closet Cooking came up with the winner, which I based this recipe on, only adjusting the seasonings and going full Swiss cheese.
INGREDIENTS
Casserole:
•12 cups (about 12-16) croissants
•6 oz ham (deli sliced or cubed)
•8 oz shredded Swiss cheese
•1 cup milk
•1/2 cup half and half
•6 large eggs, lightly beaten
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce – or your fave hot sauce, to taste
•1 tsp dried thyme
•2 tbsp Dijon mustard
•1/2 tsp steakhouse seasoning
•1/2 tsp black pepper pepper
•1/8 tsp Cayenne
Sauce:
•Honey Mustard Dressing
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Note: I bought croissants from ALDI early in the week (very nice, actually, but a bit small). The original recipe suggested using 12 to 16 croissants and cutting them into pieces. I decided to sort of cram eight whole croissants into the bottom of my baking dish, and it worked a treat.
Heat your oven to 350º and apply cooking spray to a 13×9 inch baking pan.
Line the bottom of the baking pan, then scatter the ham pieces on top.
Note: that spiral sliced, Snoop Dogg Ham was really, really good in this.
Top the ham and croissants with the shredded Swiss cheese.
Whisk the milk, half and half, eggs, Dijon mustard, Sherry Peppers, hot sauce, and seasonings together (as almost always, an immersion blender works a treat for this), then pour over the layered croissants, ham, and cheese in the baking dish.
Set it aside to rest for 20 minutes or so.
After resting, cover the baking dish tightly in foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes, until everything is bubbly and mebbe just a bit crusty in places.
Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes before serving.
Note: I used my own Honey Mustard Salad Dressing as the sauce, and it was pretty darned nice (that spinach salad would’ve been a nice side, too), but next time, I believe that I will go kinda classic and make a Blender Hollandaise Sauce.
Very happy brunching, for a birthday, or, just because!