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Bacon and Egg Custards with Three Cheeses: Breakfast for Supper Or Anytime

By Linda Eckhardt on April 16, 2012

Organic Eggs Are Delicious any time

Breakfast for Supper: Bacon and Egg Custards with Three Cheeses

Baked Custard for Supper

If you want to cook once to serve later, baked custards are the ticket. I grew up eating warm, sweet baked custards that my grandmother made for me before I even woke up.

But now, I find that savory custards are everything I need them to be: delicious, healthy, and ready when I want them. Make up 6 or 8 of these luscious egg main dishes in ramekins, cover and refrigerate them, then just pop them into the microwave for a fuss-free dinner, lunch, or dare I say, breakfast tomorrow.

Makes 6-8 main course servings

4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped (bacon fat reserved)

½ cup finely chopped red bell pepper

½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper

6 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup red onion, minced

½ cup shredded Swiss cheese

cheese gouda raw milk Kevin Connors, photographer

raw milk gouda cheese. photo by Kevin Connors

½ cup shredded aged raw milk gouda cheese

2 cups whole, organic milk

½ cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste

Pinch of cayenne

6 large organic eggs

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 6 to 8 ramekins with cooking spray and set aside in a roasting or metal baking pan with sides. Cook bacon in a large, heavy skillet until crisp, then remove to a board and chop it. Set it aside.

Heat skillet to medium high, then add red and green bell peppers, garlic and onion. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add bacon. Stir in Swiss cheese and divide this mixture among the prepared ramekins.

Heat 2 cups milk in a medium saucepan to 180° F. (or until small bubbles form around the edges. Do NOT boil). Add aged gouda and Parmigiano to a large bowl with eggs, salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking. Divide the egg mixture among the ramekins. Pour hot water into the pan to a depth of about 1-inch.

Carefully set the pan into the hot oven and bake until the center barely trembles, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it stand. Remove the ramekins after 10 minutes. Serve warm, now, or cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Reheat in the microwave about 1 minute.

Garnish with fresh parsley. Yum!

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About Linda Eckhardt

Linda West Eckhardt, is an award winning journalist, food writer, and nutritionist. Her more than 20 cookbooks have garnered prizes including the James Beard prize for the best cookbook for a text she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Their next book, The High Protein Cookbook, Clarkson Potter, remains a best seller after 12 years. That book was designed to accompany low carb diet plans. Her ground-breaking book, Bread in Half The Time, Broadway Books, was named the Best Cookbook in America by the prestigious IACP, The Julia Child award. Her award winning radio work with Jennifer English, for a national show on the Food and Wine radio network, was nominated for a James Beard Prize for a show called, “I Know What You Ate Last Summer.”