Olympic breakfast

The world’s buzzing with swimmer Michael Phelps’ breakfast. From The New York Post:

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase “Breakfast of Champions” by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

A 4,000-calorie breakfast, no less. Well, I’m no athlete and I’m certainly not on a quest for an Olympic gold but if there were Olympic Games for cooking, I’d enter this dish and be hopeful for a gold.

What is it? Let’s just say it’s a cross between an omelet, a pudding and French toast — a happy marriage between Elise’s as-you-like-it breakfast casserole and Ree’s sleepin’-in omelet.

How to make this breakfast that the champs in your family will truly enjoy:

Butter a 9″x13″ baking dish. Tear about 8 slices of bread and spread onto the bottom of the buttered dish. Top with about 150 g. of chopped salametti, 200 g. of grated cheese (choose something flavorful — I used herbed Dutch) and followed by a 225 g. block of cream cheese, cut (or torn) into small pieces.

In a bowl, whisk together 8 eggs, 2 cups of milk, salt, pepper and finely chopped onion leaves. Pour the egg-milk mixture into the baking dish, making sure that every nook and cranny is covered. Cover the dish with foil and put in the fridge for at least 3 hours to allow the bread to soak up the egg-milk mixture.

Bake, covered with foil, in a preheated 375^oF oven for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 5 minutes. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy it with tea or coffee.

Oh, and speaking of coffee… Did you know that coffee houses used to the THE PLACE for planning revolutions and whispering political intrigues? Far cry from today’s cafes, isn’t it?