Italian Breakfast Bake
Ingredients
6 oz.
crusty Italian artisan bread (approx. ½ of a Kowalski's Take & Bake Ciabatta Bread)
6 strips
Kowalski's Smoked Bacon, chopped into ¼" pieces
¼ cup
chopped yellow onions
1
orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
3
eggs
1 cup
heavy cream
¾ cup
skim milk
½ tsp.
kosher salt
½ tsp.
freshly ground Kowalski's Black Peppercorns
- dash
cayenne pepper
- dash
nutmeg
4 oz.
crumbled goat cheese, divided
4 oz.
shredded fontina cheese, divided
¼ cup
chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained, divided
¼ cup
chopped fresh herbs (such as fresh basil and chives), divided
2 tbsp.
freshly grated Kowalski's Signature Parmesan Cheese (from the Specialty Cheese Department)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Cut bread into ½" cubes; place on a baking sheet. Bake bread cubes in preheated oven until lightly toasted, stirring occasionally (5-7 min.).
- Remove from oven; set aside to cool.
- In a large sauté pan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp (about 5 min.).
- Add onion and bell pepper; cook for 5 min.
- Remove from heat; drain and discard fat (or reserve for another use). Set bacon-pepper mixture aside to cool slightly.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, milk, salt, black pepper, cayenne and nutmeg until well combined; set egg mixture aside.
- Spray a 2 qt. baking dish with cooking spray. Evenly layer ½ of the bread cubes, ½ of the bacon-pepper mixture, ½ of the goat and fontina cheeses, ½ of the tomatoes and ½ of the herbs in baking dish; repeat with remaining ingredients.
- Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan; slowly pour egg mixture evenly over top.
- Cover dish with waxed paper or foil; lightly weigh paper or foil down with bags of shredded cheese or tortillas to keep the bread submerged. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.
- In a preheated 350° oven, bake chilled dish until bubbling, puffy and set in the middle (about 40 min.).
- Remove from oven; let cool for at least 10 min. before slicing and serving.
