Convection Speed Oven Cooking Eggs Florentine Breakfast Casserole

Many years ago when I first started cooking with a Convection oven that had a Microwave option I focused a lot on items such as roasting chicken and baking potatoes in less time. However, cooking styles have changed over the years and I am finding a much broader use for my new Combi Convection Microwave oven and I am getting amazing results.

Speed Oven Eggs Florentine

I still prefer to use the Convection mode as much as possible; however, I have found it useful to occasionally use the microwave mode to cook some components of a recipe and at times, to add some microwave power to the Convection to speed up the cooking time. In this post, I will explain how I was able to put the oven to good use to prepare a delicious breakfast casserole.

How to Cook a Breakfast Casserole in a Speed Oven

Breakfast casseroles are relatively simple to prepare and there are endless combinations of ingredients that one can experiment with. The one drawback is the long cooking time required, which is usually around 40 minutes but looking through some microwave cookbooks from the 80’s I came across some inspiration to try cooking a breakfast casserole using the combination “Speed” mode as well as the microwave mode to cook some components of the casserole.

Recipe Ingredients

In order to assemble this breakfast casserole, I first had to cook some spinach which took about a minute in microwave mode. Next, I had to cook some sliced mushrooms and also make the mushroom sauce and I was able to do this in one bowl, which made clean-up easier. Let's face it clean-up can be a big obstacle to cooking and when you only have to wash a few bowls that can go in the dishwasher it does make the process easier.

Cooking a béchamel sauce in microwave mode is just amazing, no lumps, no scorched milk, and no saucepan to wash. So now that the components for the casserole were ready all I had to do was assemble it.

I used some English muffins as the base for my casserole and topped them with some cheese and cooked spinach. Then I poured the mushroom sauce over everything and made indentations in the sauce into which I cracked eggs. Of course, you could also beat the eggs, and combine them with the spinach, mushroom sauce and pour the custard over the English muffins, in which case I would probably add a little more half-and-half or cream to the mixture for a silkier custard.

Final Step: add the eggs

Now the casserole goes back in the oven to cook the eggs and heat through. Since the oven features several cooking modes you have options for finishing the cooking. The casserole can be cooked in the microwave mode for 3 - 4 minutes until the eggs are set, or baked in convection at 350F for 15 minutes or baked in a combination of convection + microwave for 8 - 10 minutes.

Is a Speed Oven a Good Choice?

The aspect I liked best about preparing this recipe using my Speed oven was the ability to quickly cook the spinach and make the mushroom sauce using the microwave mode. I finished the cooking using the combination mode and was pleased with the results and the faster cooking time was a plus. This oven is still a novelty to me but I am getting great results with the cooking and overall am finding it's a great addition to my collection of Convection ovens.

Small ovens cook differently to larger ovens and are great for quick everyday meals. Considering I can use the oven in microwave mode, convection or in the broil/toast mode or combine convection and broil with the microwave mode for speed cooking, I would say this oven is a great addition to any kitchen. Like all appliances there is a bit of a learning curve but the different cooking tools really can aid in meal preparation.

Fish Tacos make an amazing meal and with a variety of ovens with different cooking options there are several options for preparing fish or shellfish tacos which I will review in my next Blog Post.

Larissa, Your Convection Enthusiast