Egg Casserole with Rapini and Prosciutto
In an effort to gently coax my brains back into eating real food for breakfast again, instead of the Chocolate Pudding it’s been craving demanding lately, I decided to treat it to a dish that reminds it a lot of our childhood: Egg Casserole in Bechamel Sauce.
Ha! now there’s a dish that is deliciously warm and creamy, super comforting and real easy on the palate. Yes, even at 6 in the morning. I mean, hey, it’s got eggs in it. And prosciutto! And a creamy white sauce!
All “breakfast” foods, right?
Soft eggs + cured ham + creamy sauce = warm and comforting dish = winning breakfast combination!
Don’t you think? Yeah. I really thought so, too!
My brain and I have been eating this baby for 3 days straight now and when we go to bed at night, we envision that dish sitting in the fridge and look forward to getting up in the morning so we can enjoy a delicious serving.
VICTORY! I think my trick really worked!
Mind you, the trick might very well end up being on me because now my brain and I are enjoying this so much that I think I’ll have no choice but to make it a part of my regular rotation.
Not that I have a problem with that… far from there. You see, the dish itself is fairly easy to make and doesn’t take much time or effort at all. So I’m cool with that!
It’s the egg peeling part that’s a bit of a challenge for me. I’m telling you, there is something with me and hard boiled eggs. I think I must be jinxed or something. I almost NEVER manage to peel them easily and perfectly. It’s ALWAYS a total disaster. No matter what I do or what trick I use, the shell seems to systematically cling to the egg and refuses to let go. I have to rip it off, minute piece by minute piece, which is a very daunting, time consuming and dangerously nerve-wracking task that I would very gladly do without.
See for yourself! I’m sure many of you can relate, judging by the response I got when I posted this on Facebook. Glad to know I’m not alone!
Reading through the comments, I came to the conclusion that the most probable reason for my having such a hard time peeling my eggs is the fact that they are too fresh. I always knew that fresher eggs were harder to peel, but I’d never really established a connection between the fact that I used to peel eggs super easily back when I bought the standard supermarket eggs, but now that I buy the fresh local eggs, it seems like I couldn’t get a perfectly peeled egg if my life depended on it.
Next time, I’ll be giving Michelle’s technique a try. Piercing a whole in the shell is the only thing I haven’t tried thus far. Fingers crossed that it actually does the trick for me. Oh, and just to be on the safe side, I’ll let the eggs age for at least 2 weeks before attempting to cook them.
Hopefully, I’ll get my perfect eggs this time!
But even if I don’t, it’s not going to be a problem, for you don’t need your eggs to look perfect to make this dish. No one will even notice, so don’t lose sleep, or your sanity over this…
Just peel them as best you can. And take breaks between eggs if you have to. Lots of breaks!
Once you’ve got the eggs out of the way, the rest is pretty easy to do. First, you need to make a “Bechamel” out of cauliflower, then you have to steam a bunch of rapini, toast some hazelnuts and finally, you just delicately mix everything together.
Like so. Looking good already, isn’t it?
Transfer that beautiful mixture to an oven safe dish. No need to even grease it!
Top with a few slices of prosciutto and an handful more toasted hazelnuts…
Throw that in the oven for a whee bit and Voilà! You’re all good to go! Wouldn’t you say yes to that for breakfast? I know I would.
You could even count me in for lunch, or dinner for that matter!
Egg and Rapini Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tsp Himalayan or fine sea salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 large head cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup ghee
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 8 hard boiled eggs
- 200 g rapini, roughly chopped
- ½ cup crushed hazelnuts
- 5-6 very thin slices of prosciutto
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F
- Cook and peel the hard boiled eggs according to your favorite method.
- Add onion, garlic, salt and pepper to a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for one or two minutes, until fragrant and slightly softened.
- Throw the cauliflower florets in and continue cooking for a minute or two.
- Add chicken stock, cover and bring to the boil; lower heat and continue cooking until the cauliflower is tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Ladle the cauliflower mixture into your blender; add ghee, Dijon mustard and nutritional yeast and process on high speed until super smooth and silky in consistency. Set aside.
- Steam the rapini for 30 seconds to a minute, until slightly softened and bright green.
- In a small skillet, dry roast the hazelnuts over medium heat until they become fragrant and take a nice golden coloration.
- Slice the hard boiled eggs and add them to a large mixing bowl, followed by “Bechamel” sauce, rapini and three quarters of the hazelnuts. Mix very delicately until well combined and transfer to an oven safe dish.
- Tear the prosciutto into smaller pieces and arrange them on top of the dish. Sprinkle with the rest of the hazelnuts.
- Cover with foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes; after that time, remove the foil and set the oven to broil for a 2-3 minutes or until the prosciutto becomes nice and crispy and takes a nice golden coloration.
- You could also make this ahead of time and place it in the fridge after you have covered it with foil (although you might want to let it cool a bit beforehand). In this case, you’ll want to increase oven time to about 45 minutes, at 375°F.
- This also reheats extremely well in the microwave and will easily keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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34 Comments on “Egg Casserole with Rapini and Prosciutto”
OMG! I want to come and cook with you! I love seeing a paleo dish that hasn’t been done. Way to go Sonia. 🙂
Thanks Renee! What a sweet thing to say! 🙂
This sounds wonderful!
I make a lot of breakfast bakes because I can make them in advance, then reheat for the kids for a quick breakfast…
Oh, am I glad these days are behind me now. I have no one but me to reheat for. All the food is mine. Mine. Mine. MINE!!! 😉 (although I DO share with them from time to time…)
OH.DEAR.GOD. That looks amazing! Have to try it very very soon.
I just love your baking. It is so pretty!
And Michelle’s technique is the best. The needle and the baking soda with the correct timing is the key. I always make a dozen or so at least once a week. (Don’t think I would be able to do it more often as I hate peeling the eggs).
Thanks for another great recipe.
Ooooh, quick question. What exactly is rapini and what can I use instead?
Find out all about rapini here. As for substitutions, like I mentioned in the recipe notes, you could very well use broccoli, kale or spinach. One of my readers just made this using Swiss chards. So really, any “greenery” will do the trick! 🙂
Hi Sonia, thanks for your reply. Sorry, I must have missed the bit about rapini in your recipe notes!
No worries! Pleasure is all mine, Monika! 🙂
Hello, your recipe looks amazing. I was wondering what can I use instead of ghee? Thank you!
Thanks Mel! You could sub butter, if you use, or some kind of nut oil, like macadamia, or walnut, or even avocado oil might work well, I think. But nothing will give you that depth and richness of flavor that only ghee can provide! 😉
Rapini…well I had them only once as a pizza topping and that was a looooong time ago.
I wonder where I could find them? Maybe at the Farmers’ Market? I’m curious to see…
Oh, great recipe btw!
Rapini would be one of my favorite veggies. It’s pretty widely available around here, although it often lacks a little bit in the freshness department! I was lucky enough to get my hands on 2 super fresh and extra crispy bunch last week. I was a happy camper. I’m guessing you should be able to find them at the farmer’s market. I say it’s definitely worth paying them a little visit. Could you grab me 5 or 6 dozen eggs while you’re there, please? I’m all out! 😉
Oh, and thanks, btw (for the great recipe comment, not for delivering the eggs “au pas de course” all the way from there to here…)
Whoah! You never cease to amaze me Sonia. You got me drooling over this Rapini casserole! When I first saw your post on IG I thought it was lasagna 🙂 This is the perfect breakfast comfort food now that the weather is cooling down. Maybe i’ll bring this to our thanksgiving potluck since my family will be expecting a paleo dish from me. lol Love how it looks so creamy and decadent! And I hear ya about peeling fresh eggs lol
Lasagna? This is way better than lasagna. Mind you, I haven’t had lasagna in a looooong time. Great. Now you planted ideas in my head. Hmpft. Lasagna for breakfast would be good, especially if I added smoked salmon to it! That’s it. I am so adding that to my list of dishes to make. And you add my casserole. Please, do let me know how it turned out (and how people liked it) if you do bring it to that potluck! 😉
Did you get my last email, btw?
Ok i’m thinking of making this soon 🙂
I don’t think I got your last email… Or maybe it got buried in my inbox!!!
You will not regret it, Jenny! I would eat this every day for the rest of my life if I could. Or well, if someone would take care of the hard boiled eggs for me!
As for the email, I resent it to you. Hopefully you’ll get it this time. Check your spam, apparently I get categorized as such, sometimes! 🙁
I just recently learned an amazing trick for super fresh eggs – put a teaspoon of baking powder in the water before boiling. They peel like butter!!
Actually, there was baking soda in my water when I mad that batch… Thanks for the tip, though! 🙂
This looks like the best kind of ridiculous. I love the addition of the hazelnuts and the prosciutto!
As soon as I saw this post I knew I had to make it; the beautiful pictures made it look so mouthwatering. I made it last night and it did not disappoint! I did use slivered almonds for the hazelnuts and a bag of Southern Greens (collards, mustard, turnip and spinach) for the rapini because that is what I had on hand. So good for dinner and equally good for breakfast this morning. This recipe is a keeper! Thanks Sonia 🙂 Your creative and yummy recipes make eating Paleo so much easier.
YAY! So glad you liked Kamila! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know. I truly appreciate that! 🙂
This looks delicious! I was wondering what purpose does the nutritional yeast serves? Is it only for the taste or does it affects the texture as well? Could it be left out? I’ve never used it before. I’ll look it up and see if I can find a whole 30 compliant brand.
It is mostly for taste, Mary, so you can very well leave it out. As for finding a Whole30 compliant brand, I have yet to find one that isn’t…
Hi I was wondering what I could sub the rapini with?? Just any kind of greens?
Regular broccoli would work great, or spinach, kale or collards, Swiss chards… yeah, I guess you said it. Just any kind of greens would do the trick. Just make sure you squeeze out any excess water if you need to.
This is so delicious!!! I had leftover sauce so I tossed it with zucchini noodles. Amazing. Also think it would make delicious scalloped potatoes. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!
Scalloped Potatoes!!! Why did I never think of that? Thank you so much for the inspiration, Debbie. I am definitely noting that one down! 🙂
Oh, and real happy to hear you liked the dish. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to let me know!
This looks amazing – going to make is asap. I NEVER post on blogs but I had to chime in to help you with the peeling eggs thing:-). I raise chickens and yes, fresh eggs can be impossible to peel until I found this trick: Steamer basket, 20 minutes, plunge in cold water, then roll them to peel. Seriously WORKS LIKE A CHARM!
Here’s the amazing blog I learned this from:
http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2012/01/hard-steamed-eggs.html
Thanks for that, Kerri!!!! I’ll be sure to give it a try! 🙂
Going away for a CrossFit Team comp this weekend – going to convert it to make it in the Thermomix and serve it for breakfast on the first day to my team mates. Will keep you posted.
I’m puzzled… doesn’t a Thermomix turn everything to mush, like a blender? Or maybe I’m getting it all wrong… at any rate, I really hope that the recipe turns out for all you CrossFitters! I’m certain it’ll hit the spot after a couple of WODs! 🙂
When I first saw this I thought it a bit different, but I love eggs and am always looking for new ways to cook them up, so made a half recipe just to try it out. Well holy sh!t is this ever delicious I should have doubled it!!
I didn’t follow exactly to accommodate my diet, no ghee, no nuts and used veggie bacon, then I used both broccoli and spinach (no rapini). I’m actually not sure the purpose of the ghee, it does not need added fat. I do get why you’d add the nuts though, try it if calories are not a concern. Otherwise SOLID recipe. Make this dish people!!
I also completely agree on the whole egg peeling thing … pain in the a–, this was worth it though.
Hahaha! So happy to hear that you liked the recipe that much, Jessica! Thanks much for taking the time to leave such awesome feedback too, it’s greatly appreciated!
I think I used a pan too small? 8 x 8? It was too runny.