Overnight Bacon and Swiss Breakfast

Tom Whelan fell on the ice Tuesday. He called me himself, which I took as a good sign — he was on the phone immediately rather than lying there, which was my first fear when I saw his number at two in the afternoon. He said he'd gone down on the path between the house and the shop and had landed on his right hip and couldn't quite get up on his own. I was at his place in twelve minutes.

The hip isn't broken. Dr. Lewis at the clinic took X-rays and confirmed a significant bruise to the greater trochanter but no fracture. Tom sat in the examination room with his jaw set in the way he sets it when he's decided something is an inconvenience rather than an emergency, which is his coping mechanism and serves him reasonably well. He's eighty years old and he fell on ice and nothing broke. That's the good version of this story.

He stayed at our place for three days while the path was cleared and the bruise reduced enough for him to walk without serious pain. He slept in the spare room and ate dinner with us and played cribbage with Mom in the evenings. He was a good patient in the way that difficult independent people are good patients when they decide the care is necessary: he accepted it completely and without complaint and did not speak of it as needing accepting.

Made chicken soup for the three days. Stock from the freezer, roasted vegetables, egg noodles, fresh dill. The healing soup, which is what chicken soup is — not a metaphor but a practical application. You eat it when you need warmth and gentleness and protein and you receive all three and you recover. We made enough for Tom to take two jars home with him when he left Saturday.

The chicken soup handled dinner, but mornings were their own thing — Tom up early the way he always is, Mom already at the coffee maker, the house needing to feel easy and unhurried rather than medical. An overnight breakfast casserole is the right answer for that kind of morning: you assemble it the night before, it asks nothing of you at six a.m., and it comes out of the oven looking like you planned the whole thing, which in a way you did. That’s the version of care that doesn’t draw attention to itself, which is the version Tom would accept most gracefully.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes (plus overnight rest) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

8 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 cups cubed day-old bread (about 1/2 loaf, 1-inch cubes)
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided
3 green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions

Prepare the dish. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. Spread the bread cubes in an even layer across the bottom.
Layer the fillings. Scatter the crumbled bacon and 1 1/2 cups of the Swiss cheese evenly over the bread. Top with the sliced green onions.
Make the custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, dry mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper until fully combined.
Assemble and rest. Pour the egg mixture slowly and evenly over the bread and fillings, pressing down gently so the bread begins to absorb the custard. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese over the top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
Bake. Remove the dish from the refrigerator 20 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Uncover and bake for 45—55 minutes, until the center is set and the top is golden brown. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.
Rest and serve. Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Overnight Bacon and Swiss Breakfast — The Meals You Make When Someone Needs Taking Care Of