Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

• 15 3/4 ozpork breakfast sausage, casings removed
• 1onion, finely diced
• 6 slicewhite bread, day-old, cut into cubes
• 8eggs
• 2 1/8 cupswhole milk
• 7 ozsharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 tspdijon mustard
• 1 tspsea salt
• 1/2 tspblack pepper
• 1/2 ozbutter, for the dish

Method

1. 1

   Break the sausage into a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until well browned, about seven minutes. Add the onion and cook for another five until soft. Tip it into a strainer to drain off the fat, or the casserole comes out greasy.

2. 2

   Butter a large baking dish. Scatter half the bread cubes over the base, then half the sausage mixture and a third of the grated cheddar. Repeat, and keep the last third of the cheese back.

3. 3

   Whisk the eggs, the milk, the dijon mustard, the salt and the black pepper together until completely smooth, and pour it evenly over the dish. Press the bread down with the back of a spoon so every cube is wet.

4. 4

   Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least four hours. This is the step that turns bread and egg into a set custard rather than a wet sponge.

5. 5

   Heat the oven to 350°F. Take the dish out of the fridge while the oven comes up. Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes, then uncover, scatter over the last of the cheese, and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until puffed and set in the middle.

6. 6

   Let it sit for ten minutes out of the oven. Cut straight away and it slumps; cut after ten minutes and it holds a square.