SWMBO found Granny Smith apples on sale and bought a bag. This reminded me of a recipe we used in Boy Scouts that included Granny Smith apples, breakfast sausage, bread, eggs and cheese baked in a Dutch oven. It's been years since I made this so I googled for the recipe. I was really surprised by the number of recipes that use bread, sausage and Granny Smith apples that are not quite what we made back then. <sigh> So I winged it from memory. This is one of those things where exact proportions are not critical. You can vary them to suit your taste or the quantity of ingredients you have at hand.
I made a reduced recipe since I was working with my 8" DO. I used:
Scramble the eggs and add the nutmeg. Mix in the bread and then add the sausage and apples. Put into the DO. This should fill it about 2/3 as it will grow a bit as it cooks. Spread the grated cheese on top and bake at 350 with the lid on. (That's how I did it this time because I didn't feel like going out in a 43° weather and starting coals.
) I think I probably baked it about an hour. I thought I'd have to take the lid off for the cheese to brown but that was not the case. The second time I checked it, the cheese was starting to brown so I took it out and declared it Done! (It was probably done at 45 minutes. ;) )This is what it looked like:
Even without nutmeg it was as good as I recalled. I spoon it into a bowl and give it a couple shakes of Louisiana hot sauce, but if you don't appreciate that kind of zing, it is fine as it comes out of the DO.
Makes great left overs too.
Were I to make it using coals, I'd be sure to put enough on the top to slightly bias the heat that way to help brown the cheese on top. (*)
If you try this out, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If you are familiar with the official recipe (Granny Smith Breakfast IIRC), please post it or link to it!
(*) If you haven't done much Dutch Oven cooking with coals, you may find it takes fewer coals than you might think. If you cover your DO with a solid layer of coals, it will go way past brown if you catch my drift.
I made a reduced recipe since I was working with my 8" DO. I used:
- 4-5 peeled, cored and chunked Granny Smith apples (Didn't quite use all 5.)
- 3/4 of a 1lb package of Savory Sage breakfast sausage.
- 5 slices of Oat Nut bread cut into cubes
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 lb grated sharp Cheddar. We had medium Cheddar so I grated some Asiago into it for a lttle extra sharpness
- About a 1/2 TBSP nutmeg. (I couldn't find it so we went without, but it is a big component of the flavor.)
Scramble the eggs and add the nutmeg. Mix in the bread and then add the sausage and apples. Put into the DO. This should fill it about 2/3 as it will grow a bit as it cooks. Spread the grated cheese on top and bake at 350 with the lid on. (That's how I did it this time because I didn't feel like going out in a 43° weather and starting coals.
Even without nutmeg it was as good as I recalled. I spoon it into a bowl and give it a couple shakes of Louisiana hot sauce, but if you don't appreciate that kind of zing, it is fine as it comes out of the DO.
Makes great left overs too.
If you try this out, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If you are familiar with the official recipe (Granny Smith Breakfast IIRC), please post it or link to it!
(*) If you haven't done much Dutch Oven cooking with coals, you may find it takes fewer coals than you might think. If you cover your DO with a solid layer of coals, it will go way past brown if you catch my drift.
