“Breakfast for dinner” gluten-free egg casserole with lamb

Posted On November 18, 2020

This dish is something that has evolved in my house over the years. It’s our “kitchen sink” dish — the dish you make when you need to use up some potatoes or the last couple of eggs, or if there is leftover taco meat in the fridge. A friend of ours used to make a Puerto Rican dish called Piñon, and this iteration is about 10 recipes removed from that one — though it still tastes similar. This version has a bit of Moroccan flavor thanks to the ras el hanout spice mix I found on a Whole Foods trip this weekend, and a bit of luxurious holiday flavor since I used ground lamb and sweet potatoes. This dish is gluten free, and could be converted easily to paleo if you omit the cheese.

Recipe:

• Three to four large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into the thinnest rounds you can make
• One onion, finely diced
• Three large cloves of garlic, finely diced
• One pound of ground lamb
• One 12 oz can of diced or stewed tomatoes
• One 7 oz can of peeled and diced green chilis
• One tablespoon ras el hanout
• 1 tsp pimenton
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• One 8 oz package of shredded goats milk cheddar (sub regular white cheddar if you can’t find it, but the mild goats milk flavor really does make a difference)
• One 5 oz package of goat cheese crumbles
• 6 eggs lightly whisked with a pinch of sea salt

Prep a 13×9 inch Pyrex baking dish with some cooking spray. Place one layer of the peeled and sliced sweet potatoes on the bottom of the dish.

Sauté the onion and garlic together in a skillet. Add the lamb and break up into small pieces. This tool is amazing for that. Just before the meat is completely cooked, after about five minutes of sautéing, add the spices. Add the tomatoes, and turn down to a simmer. Taste it and add spices if necessary. Allow to simmer on low for up to 20 minutes.

Once it’s cooked, add about half of the meat mixture in a layer on top of the first layer of potatoes. Then add a handful of the goats milk cheddar, spread evenly. Add another layer of the sweet potatoes, another layer of the meat mixture (this will be all of it), another layer of cheese. Then finally, the last layer of sweet potatoes on top. Take the bowl of salted, whisked eggs and pour over the casserole. Add the remaining cheese and the crumbles on top.

Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the cheese is slightly browned. When you remove it, all of the egg will be cooked but it will need to sit and rest for at least 5 to ten minutes before serving.

Enjoy! I served this with some Brussels sprouts cooked with bacon, and it paired well.