Brie and Sausage Brunch Bake

Twelve weeks. OB appointment went well — heartbeat strong, measurements right, the first real confirmation that what we have been building for six months is proceeding the way it is supposed to proceed. The doctor said everything looks great. I held Ryan hand while she said it and I thought about January and the conversation we had and the six months of waiting and the 5:30 AM in the bathroom and I thought: here we are. Here we are.

We told the family on Saturday. Ryan called Matt. I called Kristin. We went to Steve and Patty together and told them in person, which Patty needed — she would have been fine with a phone call but she deserved the in-person. She held my hands and cried and then said she had an idea for a nursery and I said it is too early for nursery ideas and she said it is absolutely not too early and I said okay fine what is the idea. The idea is good. I agreed with the idea immediately and said I had no memory of this conversation. Ryan said this is how families work. He is correct.

I told the blog today. A short post, just the announcement, just the facts: we are expecting, late November, we are grateful. The response was the largest single-day comment activity I have ever had, which surprised me even though I had some idea it was coming. People who have been reading about the pandemic soup and the potato pancakes in the wedding dress and the slow cooker philosophy and the firehouse chili for two years — they felt it with me. That is the blog now. That is what it is for.

Due date is late November. The blog will follow this the way it follows everything: honestly, with food, in the specific details that make it real.

I said the announcement post was just the facts, and it was — but facts have a way of demanding a table to sit around, and a table demands food. When I thought about what Saturday felt like — Patty holding my hands, Ryan on the phone with Matt, the particular chaos of telling people something enormous all at once — the only thing that made sense was something warm and generous and built to feed a room. This Brie and Sausage Brunch Bake is exactly that: the kind of dish you pull from the oven when the occasion is already doing all the heavy lifting, and you just need something worthy of it.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 50 min | Total Time: 1 hr 10 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
1 loaf (about 12 oz) French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (roughly 6 cups)
8 oz Brie cheese, rind removed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons fresh chives, thinly sliced (for garnish)
Nonstick cooking spray

Instructions

Cook the sausage. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the bulk sausage, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through, about 8–10 minutes. Drain on a paper-towel-lined plate and set aside.
Prepare the baking dish. Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread the bread cubes in an even layer across the bottom of the dish.
Layer the fillings. Scatter the cooked sausage evenly over the bread, then distribute the Brie cubes across the top so they’re nestled in among the bread and sausage.
Make the custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until fully combined and slightly frothy.
Assemble. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread, pressing the bread gently with the back of a spoon so it absorbs the custard. Sprinkle the shredded Gruyère over the top. At this point the dish can be covered and refrigerated overnight, or baked immediately.
Bake. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake uncovered for 45–55 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the center is set (a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean). If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes.
Rest and serve. Let the bake rest for 5 minutes before cutting. Garnish with fresh chives and serve warm directly from the dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Brie and Sausage Brunch Bake — The Meal I’ll Make When the Words Won’t Come