Ham and Egg Casserole

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Last week was one of those weeks when I was glad just to have food in the house, much less yummy homemade dinners. I had to kick the menu to the curb a few times just to get dinner on the table. Fortunately I had bought the ingredients for this yummy egg casserole, but realized when I went to make it on Sunday that it was a recipe that would not work for popping in the oven and setting delayed bake -- it required more than just throwing it together and forgetting about. But, it did not require so much work that I couldn't throw it together while I sipped a glass of wine and chatted with my husband when he arrived home from work. The whole gang loved it too, which means it's a good go-to on nights when things are a little crazy (remember, breakfast is not just for mornings!)

A few things about the recipe -- first, I followed the recipe pretty closely and put it in a 13 x 9 dish as directed, but the potatoes did not get very crisp even though I cooked them twice as long as recommended (Abby's look more crisp than mine). I thought that would bother me, but they were very tasty just the same and I think the kids might have liked them better that way. I think I would still cook them twice as long and I've adjusted the recipe below. I added 1/4 cup of finely diced onion and 1/4 cup finely diced green pepper to my potatoes, for more of a Denver style egg dish, and I loved the flavor (maybe that affected the browning?). If your people don't like either or both of those ingredients, I'm sure the recipe would be just as awesome without.

Second, this recipe is a little high on the fat. If it's an occasional thing for you, don't worry about it. I might fiddle with the cream/milk thing next time and see what happens. I used half & half this time. I think this recipe has great potential in terms of subbing out one ingredient for another, but I really liked the ham/green pepper/onion/potato combo and so did my people.

Ham and Egg Casserole

2 12-ounce bags frozen, shredded hash browns, thawed overnight in fridge
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c. finely diced green pepper (optional)
1/4 c. finely diced onion (optional)
1 boneless ham steak, diced
1.5 to 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
A few dashes of hot sauce


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Squeeze moisture out of thawed potatoes, then put them in a large bowl. Pour melted butter over potatoes and stir until well-combined. Line ungreased casserole dish with buttered potatoes, and press to make a crust. Bake 20 minutes or until potatoes are just crisped and brown on the edges.

Remove dish from oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk eggs, cream and hot sauce.

Sprinkle ham over potato crust. Then add cheese. Pour cream and egg mixture over ingredients.

Bake 30 minutes or until set and gold and bubbling at edges.

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Source: modified from Confabulation in the Kitchen

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