The food pantry that our church sponsors is called The Brown Bag Program and provides lunch for about 80 people a day. It costs about $3.25 to fill a bag and, like every other charity in the City, we’ve been feeling the pinch of the recession. The numbers needing help are up and the help is down. To publicize our plight, we hosted a breakfast at Christ and St. Stephen’s and I made this delicious and different breakfast casserole. What’s great about it is that you can do the whole thing the night before, chill it and bake it in the morning.
I’m sharing the recipe for 6 servings because if you’re not feeding an Army, salvation or otherwise, you won’t need the quantity I was making. But you certainly can double it for a crowd. For the recipe all you have to do is scroll down. And if you’d like to contribute to The Brown Bag Program, all you have to do is follow this link: https://www.csschurch.org
Recipe for Smoked Salmon and Potato Casserole with Sour Cream and Capers.
The original recipe is from a 2002 Bon Appetit. Smoked salmon has such a flavor kick that it doesn’t take a lot to give you a real taste of its smoky fragrance. I bought a slab of the stuff and cubed it. I suppose you could use one of those packages of sliced smoked salmon but I followed the call for bite-sized pieces and then tried to make sure it was evenly distributed throughout the dish. Here it is.
2 2 cups (lightly packed) 1/2-inch cubes French baguette with crusts
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1 pound russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/ 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
1/ 1/2 pound hot-smoked salmon fillets, skinned, flaked into bite-size pieces
3 3 tablespoons minced fresh chives
2 2 teaspoons minced fresh dill
4 large eggs
1 1 cup half and half
3 3 tablespoons sour cream
1 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/ 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/ 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
A Additional sour cream
C Capers
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange bread on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 5 minutes, then cool.
Butter 11×7-inch glass baking dish.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-low heat. Add potatoes. Stir to coat and arrange in single layer. Cover and cook until potatoes are almost tender, about 8 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to medium-high, and cook until potatoes are lightly browned and tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
4. Add shallots and sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Gently mix in bread, salmon, chives, and minced dill. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.
5. Whisk eggs and next 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend well. Pour custard over potato mixture in dish. Let stand 15 minutes, occasionally pressing bread into custard. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.)
6. Take 2 tbsp. of Capers and stir them into 8 ounces of sour cream.
7. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake casserole, uncovered, until custard is set, about 30 minutes. Cut into squares and top with additional sour cream and caper sauce; serve hot.
