A Blunch Casserole

Sunday afternoon in Berlin. It becomes a social dead zone the minute the weather turns chilly. You wake up after a Saturday night out, and know that your friends are probably just crawling out of bed as well, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. The shops are all closed. Without nice weather, there's really no compelling reason to leave the house.

In the summer, of course, someone might be barbecuing in the park, or headed to a lake outside of town. When summer hits Berlin, the whole city suddenly floods outdoors to capture every possible minute of sunshine. But this time of year, with the gray clouds looming overhead, there isn't much to do but wrap yourself in a blanket and snuggle up to your mug of coffee. We're slowly becoming housebound again.

As I head into my third fall here, I have to say... I miss the warm weather, of course, but more than that I miss the social feeling of summer. Especially Sundays. When the sun is out, and with the stores closed, you have no excuse not to be outside. You run into friends all over the place - in the park, on a bike path - and there's usually a few minutes to just sit around and relax together.

Sundays are special. On weekdays everyone's tired from work. On Friday or Saturday night, there's a sudden need to be out on the town, doing something exciting. On Sundays, though, no one's got anything to do. But as fall creeps up with winter on its tail, we need compelling reasons to get up and be sociable again.

And what better reason than food and good company?

So, this past Sunday I decided to invite everyone over for a late, late brunch. (I guess technically lunch is what you would call a "late brunch," but humor me for a minute, OK?) 3pm Sunday afternoon. It gives us all just long enough to revive ourselves after a long Saturday night, have a snack, and meet up for... whatever you would like to call the meal. Blunch, anyone?


I thought about getting really fancy with the cooking. I wanted a potato dish, a cheese-and-egg dish... I even planned ahead and did some cooking beforehand. (Boiling potatoes before heading out for the night is never a bad idea!) In the end, I had my own slight hangover to deal with, and so I decided on an all-in-one casserole instead of two separate ones. And man, was that a good idea. Potatoes, zucchini, leeks, cheese, eggs - I could have kept going, but I ran out of room in the pan!

As side dishes, we just had some crackers, cheese, cold cuts, etc off to the side. Along with the loaf of banana bread (made with guidance from Gluten Free Gobsmacked), we were all stuffed by the end of the afternoon. And the banana bread was devoured, I kid you not.

Sorry I only have one photo this time around - I was too busy cooking and eating and enjoying the company to go crazy with the camera!

Potato Zucchini Breakfast Casserole

Boil the potatoes the night before and let them sit in the fridge overnight.
The proportions in this recipe are open to your own interpretation. My original served about 12 people and used 16 eggs. I've scaled this down to feed about 4, but you can adjust it as you like - I think it would be hard to go too far wrong.

Ingredients:

1-1.5 lbs potatoes (or about 4 fist-sized potatoes)
1/2 lb zucchini (2-3 medium zucchini)
1 leek
1/2 - 3/4 c. shredded cheese (I suggest Swiss)
5 eggs
3 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. salt, divided
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/4 -1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350° and lightly butter or grease the bottom and sides of an 8x8 or 9x9 in. casserole dish.

1. Prep work:
Slice the potatoes thinly, cutting lengthwise along the potato. About 1/8 in. is good, but you can always go thicker or thinner according to preference. Slice the zucchini into rounds as thinly as you can. Trim the tough, leafy end off the leak - you can leave some of the green part attached, but make sure it's just the thinner, tender part. Slice the leek thinly and then chop haphazardly into smaller bits.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs with the milk and 1/2 tsp. salt until light and fluffy.

2. Assembly
Start with a layer of potatoes at the bottom of the casserole dish. Overlap the slices a little bit, like you would for lasagna noodles. Sprinkle about half of the chopped leeks over the top, then half the shredded cheese.

Follow this up with the zucchini. Cover the the potato-leek-cheese combo completely in zucchini slices, and keep layering until all the zucchini is used up. At this point, sprinkle the rosemary, garlic, pepper, and about 1/2 tsp. of salt over the zucchini.

Top the zucchini layer with a final layer of potatoes, followed by the rest of the leeks and the cheese. Finally, pour the beaten egg over everything. It should fill the casserole dish just to the top of the veggies, but if you find yourself a little low you can beat another egg with a splash of milk and add it in.

Cooking:
Bake the casserole for about 45 min. - 1 hour, until it is set in the middle. Let it cool slightly, and dig in!