Bagels in A Casserole? Why not!

 

I grew up in New York where the bagel was a staple item in our house.  Instead of a teething ring, my Mom gave me a piece of bagel and I would gum it to death.  There are pictures proving this fact.  So of course my favorite breakfast is a toasted bagel although lately to eat healthier I have substituted an English Muffin that is high fiber.  But on the weekend it is still the bagel.  To keep things "fresh" I vary what I put on as a topping.  If I still lived in NY it would be lox, cream cheese and a slice of red onion all the time but I no longer live in NY and I like a little variety in my life after all I am a Gemini.  So peanut butter, melted cheeses or flavored cream cheese are a good change.  I think you all get it, bagels are really their own food group for me.  That is why the recipe I will share with you was so appealing to me.  It is a bagel casserole.

Many of you have tasted some of my breakfast casseroles.  They usually have eggs, milk some type of bread and either fresh veggies or perhaps bacon or sausage.  Sometimes I do a combination meat and veggie.  Sometimes I do a French Toast casserole. It all depends on my mood.  The wonderful thing about an breakfast casserole is that you don't need to follow a recipe to the letter, there is wiggle room.  Ever since I took my cooking without a recipe class I have been improvising a lot more.  The only thing I don't usually change is the ratio of eggs to milk because that is what gives the casserole its consistency.  Once I find the consistency that I like I use it in other things.

While I was browsing the online catalog for my county library I found The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman.  One of the first recipes I  came across was This Bagel Casserole I am going to share with you.  One of the Nice things about the recipes in this book is the ingredients are in both the American standard measures as well as those found Internationally.  So those of my friends that follow me outside of the United States, you can follow along as well with one assumption, you can find bagels.  But if you can't substitute your favorite bread.  Remember it is a casserole.

So here it is:

8 cups of bagels cut into 1 inch cubes (570 grams)
8 ounces (225gm) of cream cheese
1/4 medium onion sliced thinly
1 pint grape tomatoes cut in half or quartered
8 large eggs
2 1/3 cup milk (555 ml) or half and half
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Capers for serving
Lox or bacon for serving

In a pan 9x 13 pan spread a third of the bagel cubes. Dot with a third of the cream cheese bits and mix in the red onion and tomatoes.  Repeat in two more alternating layers.

Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over bagel mixture.  Refrigerate over night.

Preheat oven to 350.  Bake until it is puffed.

I am not inclined to follow the recipe to the letter of the law.  Like I said it is a casserole and casseroles are forgiving.  I made some changes.

 



I used three types of bagels: garlic, sesame and everything. I added the lox into the casserole rather than serving it on the side. 

I bumped up the veggie content and added a whole red onion, 3 mini red peppers and 3 cloves of fresh garlic.

This is what the first layer looked like:

The top layer looks pretty much like this one. One thing you do want to do is prepare overnight to allow the bagel to absorb some of the egg.  The outside of this casserole is like a warm roasted bagel and the inside is nice and soft.

Hope you enjoy it!