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and very silly jokes, you'll love The

1:01

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1:03

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1:06

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1:08

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to The Plate Show, wherever you get

1:23

your podcasts. Shilpa's

1:26

like, what are you doing with the headphones? I

1:28

just had to fix my hair-ish. Yes. It's

1:31

just his radio, babe. It's

1:34

okay. I got to look good for me. Hey

1:41

there, listeners, future callers, and

1:43

cooking enthusiasts. Welcome

1:46

to Dinner SOS, the show where we

1:48

help you save dinner or

1:50

whatever you're cooking. I'm Chris

1:52

Morocco, food director of Bon Appetit

1:54

and Epicurious. Today's caller

1:56

is Catherine. Catherine is a

1:59

mom of four. and she's looking

2:01

to create a delicious tradition around Christmas

2:03

morning. When I was growing

2:05

up, we, for breakfast on

2:07

Christmas morning, we always did cereal.

2:11

So, now they say,

2:13

we just kind of like wander into the

2:15

kitchen and eat cereal. And my parents did

2:17

kind of make it special, like we all

2:20

got to choose our own box of cereal.

2:22

Wait, you would choose your own box like

2:24

in advance? Like you'd make a special trip?

2:26

Yes. We always just choose like the cereals

2:29

that you never buy otherwise. Yeah. Like

2:31

come with a prize or they're

2:33

like shaped like cookies or whatever,

2:35

like those kind of cereals. Basically,

2:37

every child wants these types

2:39

of cereal and every parent doesn't want

2:41

their kids to eat these types of

2:43

cereal. For sure. Catherine's

2:46

husband, however, grew up with the

2:48

tradition of a breakfast casserole on

2:50

Christmas morning, which also allowed

2:53

the family to sit down and eat

2:55

breakfast together. And I kind

2:57

of felt like that sounded magical because

3:00

it's been kind of crazy. I went over to presents, but then

3:02

you all get to like sit down and eat

3:04

together. And so I was like,

3:06

let's do that because you can make it the night

3:08

before. And then you just keep it

3:10

up on Christmas morning and then eat it. Yeah.

3:13

So I talked to my mother in

3:15

law, got her recipe and we tried it.

3:18

And it was not bad. I mean,

3:20

it was very simple. It's just like

3:23

sausage, cheese, eggs, potatoes.

3:26

That's basically it. But

3:28

I also was like, I was kind of thinking, you

3:30

know, because I'm coming from like, you got to pick

3:32

your own box of cereal. Like I want something a

3:34

little more special. And

3:36

so the next year I

3:38

tried a casserole that had green

3:40

onions and feta and it had

3:43

some like sour dough bread in

3:45

it and it was okay.

3:47

We didn't love it though. And I was

3:49

kind of like, well, I don't want to

3:51

make something every year that we don't love.

3:53

So what I would love is to find

3:55

kind of like a really great make

3:58

ahead breakfast that basically is. cooler

4:00

and more exciting than choosing your

4:03

own box of cereal. Which

4:06

we will now fully admit actually

4:08

is quite exciting. Totally.

4:12

And I actually love that tradition. I'm thinking

4:14

we could tie it with another holiday. You can

4:16

do it all. You can do both. I

4:19

think the play, unlike that kind

4:21

of holiday morning, is like at least my own family. Everybody.

4:24

And my wife is just as complicit as the

4:27

kids. Honestly, in some ways she's worse than them.

4:29

Everybody wants to wake up at like 6.30 and

4:32

start getting into this whole orchestrated,

4:34

organized, present opening thing. And I'm

4:36

always like, everyone, just back off

4:38

until I've had coffee and a

4:40

piece of toast. Seriously,

4:43

I don't want to even acknowledge that it's

4:45

Christmas until I've had coffee,

4:47

you know? And then later in

4:49

the morning, kind of do that like bigger breakfast

4:51

on a moment as a family and make it

4:53

special. Yeah, for sure. And I think

4:55

because as you know, we have little kids

4:57

now and it's like they do really

5:00

just want to open presents. But then once,

5:02

you know, everything is kind of settled down,

5:04

then I love that idea of like now

5:06

we all sit down together and it's just

5:08

like a fun like together time. Yeah. So

5:10

talk to me about, you know, what you

5:12

eat every other day of the year. Like

5:14

what are the flavors that excite you? How

5:17

far are you willing to sort of drive

5:20

the flavor bus? I don't know. That was

5:22

like the expression that came to mind. Do

5:24

you just want like a better version of

5:26

your kind of like classic bread and

5:28

or potato based casserole? Are you

5:31

looking to like blow things up?

5:33

I would kind of say maybe

5:35

in the middle where it still feels exciting,

5:37

like Christmas morning, something to look forward to.

5:39

We get this really delicious breakfast, but

5:42

also like it's still comforting. Got

5:45

it. What do you like to eat? Like

5:47

if you're going out for food, what type

5:49

of food do you crave? We

5:51

really like pasta. My kids favorite

5:53

pasta is caprese pasta with tomatoes

5:56

and fresh mozzarella and basil. Really?

6:00

Mexican food, we eat a lot of

6:03

rice kind of dishes. There's

6:05

like a takeout Korean barbecue place that we like

6:07

to go to. Okay, cool.

6:09

Just helps me to know just from the

6:12

standpoint of like how far to nudge this

6:14

outside of, you know, the kind of like

6:16

slightly more straightforward approaches you've had. If

6:18

you have a better idea of

6:21

a make-ahead breakfast, I am not just

6:23

sold on casserole. If you have another

6:25

idea of like what we can make

6:27

the night before and just enjoy on

6:29

Christmas morning, I'm totally open to that

6:32

too. And, but the one thing

6:34

is I do want it to be savory

6:36

because we love cookies, candy, all the Christmas

6:38

treats. So I think if we're gonna sit down

6:40

and eat breakfast, I don't want it to be

6:43

like super sweet. Yeah, that's totally

6:45

fair. Honestly, this does feel exciting to me.

6:47

Like this feels very real. I think sometimes,

6:49

you know, folks are looking for a make-ahead

6:51

breakfast option around the holidays because they have

6:54

people who might be staying with them. And

6:56

you just kind of need food. You don't

6:58

wanna like suddenly turn your kitchen into like

7:00

a short order diner. You just kind of

7:02

need to put something up that hopefully most

7:05

people will find something to enjoy. Right? Yeah.

7:07

Great. Anything else at all you can think of? I

7:10

think that's basically it. I mean, I think

7:12

my dream is like, you

7:14

wake up on Christmas morning and

7:17

I just throw something in the oven

7:19

and it's like beautiful, festive, and we

7:21

all get to sit down and enjoy

7:24

it. And it's like no stress. And

7:26

I mean, I do love

7:28

traditions. And so if it's super

7:30

good, I'm fine just making

7:33

it every year. Totally. From

7:35

here on out. They call that tradition.

7:42

When Shilpa Skokovich and I got on

7:44

the phone to brainstorm solutions for Catherine,

7:47

I kept getting stuck on an issue

7:49

I've long had with breakfast recipes. Honestly,

7:54

I feel like every time a brunch story comes

7:56

around, the

7:59

comments, conversation quickly becomes like how do we

8:01

do a strata without doing

8:04

strata? Hmm. I thought of

8:06

crunch wrap for a crowd. I think it

8:08

could be fun. I don't know if it's

8:10

like make a head of bull the same

8:12

way. Yeah, it's certainly not make a head

8:14

of bull, but it's very fun. It hits all the

8:16

other points. So for kids though,

8:18

Christmas morning, are you making crunch

8:20

wrap for a crowd for like

8:22

the first time? The answer to that question is

8:25

no. No, no. The answer to the

8:27

question was no. The answer to the question

8:29

is yes, it could work. So we

8:31

can pin that and then we can move on

8:33

to finding other solutions. I'll have a plan

8:35

B. Regardless, but we'll try and convince

8:37

Catherine that she needs to make. Okay.

8:40

Because I'm going to come in

8:42

with something that's like real accessible.

8:44

I'm like coming in with like

8:46

the Barca lounger of breakfast

8:48

casseroles. They do? The Barca,

8:51

like a Barca lounger, you know, like one

8:53

of those like lounge chairs where you like,

8:55

you flip the lever and like the legs

8:57

pop up and you like, like a lazy

8:59

boy, like a lazy boy, whatever. I'm

9:01

going to hit her with like a lazy

9:03

boy recipe, like set it up the night

9:05

before they get that morning. Everything's

9:09

chill. And it's not as trauma. It's

9:11

going to be a strata. You kidding?

9:13

I thought you started the whole conversation of

9:15

saying everything about brunch is usually strata and we're trying

9:17

to do something that's not a strata. I know

9:19

we're trying to, but, but, but it's

9:22

the circle of life. You try to

9:24

do something that's not a strata. You

9:26

do a strata, try to do something that's not

9:28

a strata. You do a strata and like on and

9:30

on it goes. You're trying to

9:32

break the strata cycle. Let's, let's all try,

9:34

but, but I'm just saying like prepare for

9:36

it not to happen. This has been a great

9:38

conversation. You know why? Because next time I

9:40

come up with a pitch and I'm like, this is what I want

9:43

to do. And you're like, no, this is what you should do. I'm

9:45

going to be like, this is the cycle of life. You start off

9:47

trying to not make this. So then you end up making exactly this.

9:49

So thanks for giving me the manuscript to my

9:52

next pitch. a

10:00

bite meme. After the break,

10:02

we see what Catherine thinks about

10:04

Sjilpa's incredible, but labor-intensive

10:06

crunch wrap. Or if

10:08

she'd rather kick up her feet and relax. We're

10:30

getting cooking help from amazing people this

10:32

holiday season, including chef Christian Kish, Eric

10:34

Ripert, Abra Baron, and cookbook

10:37

authors Jocelyn Jelk-Adams, Dan Closie, and Amy

10:39

Phelan. We have cooking, eating, and gifting

10:41

ideas for anyone you're going to have

10:43

at your table, but listen to the

10:45

Splendid Table wherever you get your podcasts.

10:48

I'll see you soon. Catherine,

11:02

welcome back. How are you? I'm

11:04

good. Well, we're so glad to

11:06

have you. And Sjilpa and I

11:09

talked a lot about breakfast casseroles.

11:11

And okay, real talk. Real

11:13

talk, Catherine. Like, this is us taking you

11:15

behind the curtain to see like the little

11:18

old man and the little old lady pulling

11:20

the gears and, you know, Anybody is ready

11:22

for a behind the scenes version. It's either

11:24

of us. I know. This is like

11:26

in front of the scenes. No,

11:29

so there's this kind of like

11:31

thing in food media,

11:33

like with recipe development around breakfast

11:35

casseroles that like the strata kind

11:37

of became like a little bit

11:40

passe. It was kind of like,

11:42

Oh, God, not another strata, you

11:44

know, and yet it's this like

11:46

solution to a real problem, which

11:49

is that we make such a

11:51

huge deal of like Thanksgiving dinner,

11:53

you know, Hanukkah dinner, but like

11:55

a lot of these things, like

11:57

it's not just one meal. Shelpa,

12:00

how long did your parents come to town for? Months.

12:03

Months. They were in your

12:06

apartment for months and it wasn't

12:08

even a holiday. They

12:10

were just there. Yeah. So

12:12

it's like you are entertaining people

12:14

in all kinds of different scenarios.

12:17

Yeah. Right? And

12:19

we just did this brunch story. It was

12:21

like a brunch feature that Shelpa did. It

12:23

was beautiful in the September issue. And I

12:25

feel like, I don't know, we took some

12:27

big swings, wouldn't you say? Yeah, it

12:29

was a very eclectic menu. It

12:32

was an eclectic menu. That's what it

12:34

was. Which featured a large

12:37

format, non-straw-da egg-based

12:39

dish. And

12:42

it really captivated people, didn't it? Yeah,

12:44

people responded well. Right? Do

12:46

you want to talk about what that was? Yeah,

12:48

we ended up calling it Crunchwrap for a crowd

12:50

and it was based on Taco

12:53

Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme, which, Catherine,

12:55

have you had one before? Oh, for sure. You

12:57

have? I don't

13:00

know. They did breakfast where it's an unrelated research for the

13:02

story. Have you had the regular kind or the breakfast

13:04

kind? Oh, just the regular kind, yeah. Oh, got

13:06

it, got it, got it. So anyway, my Crunchwrap

13:08

for a crowd was based around Taco

13:10

Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme. And Ines,

13:12

our kitchen coordinator, test kitchen coordinator, actually got

13:16

Crunchwraps for recipe research purposes. Just for

13:18

research. Just for research. That

13:20

was my first one. Yeah, me too. I've

13:22

never had one before. I was like, what

13:24

is this? Yeah, honestly, it was bad. It

13:27

was not great. In all honesty.

13:29

I mean, because actually it was great.

13:31

It's actually so strong. I think it's

13:33

just like it's the actual physical

13:35

execution. You know, like

13:38

what's the quality of the ingredients? There

13:40

are interesting flavors there. I just felt

13:42

like, oh, everything about this we would

13:44

want to change. What an

13:47

idea. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I

13:49

took that and ran with it. And you know, we were

13:51

talking about, oh, how do you make this but not have

13:53

to make one Crunchwrap for

13:55

each person on your little like nonstick skillet. So

13:57

I was like, oh, why don't you just. you

14:00

know, size it up, make it big, and

14:02

just put it all in one skillet. And

14:04

that's what I ended up doing. Laid out

14:06

tortillas in a cast iron, like a heavily

14:08

buttered cast iron skillet, and then you pile

14:11

it with like scrambled eggs, cooked chorizo. It

14:13

had avocados, it had refried beans from a

14:15

can, American cheese, and it also had crushed

14:17

tortilla chips in there. And then you fold

14:19

up, you know, the overhang of the tortillas,

14:21

you weigh it down, and you

14:23

pop it in the oven. Well, and Catherine,

14:26

you know, I said to

14:28

Shilpa, do you really think

14:30

Catherine, who's looking for Hallmark

14:33

Moment, holiday morning, for kids,

14:35

is looking for something that

14:37

requires this much thought and

14:39

assembly? And you said, absolutely

14:42

she is. Okay,

14:44

here's the thing. My Hallmark Moment for Catherine,

14:46

Catherine, I'm making up your life for you.

14:48

Stay with me. For

14:50

kids. For kids, the Hallmark

14:52

story is this, the four kids are

14:54

at a table eating cereal, they're eating

14:57

the cereal. Meanwhile,

15:00

meanwhile, Catherine is making

15:02

Crunchwrap, and then she presents

15:04

this thing. And then the kids are like, Oh,

15:06

Mom, you're so great. That's that's the win. Like,

15:09

they're eating cereal, like the kids are fine.

15:11

They don't know. Probably is best to

15:14

not plan around what they will or will

15:16

not eat. But

15:18

they do like tacos.

15:21

There's a good chance they would go

15:23

for it. And it does sound because you have

15:25

like the whole pan and everything rolled up. I

15:27

mean, it does sound pretty spectacular looking. It's

15:30

a sensational looking dish. It's definitely a crowd pleaser.

15:32

And you know, it's impressive looking. And here's the

15:35

thing, there is a certain amount of commitment that

15:37

goes into it. And I was like, Oh, what

15:39

if I was in this situation? And if it

15:41

was me, perhaps what I would do is just

15:43

have all the components ready the day before as

15:46

much as I can. I would like chop the

15:48

cilantro, cook off the chorizo, keep it to the

15:50

side. The rest is mostly just assembly. Once you

15:52

have the chorizo cooked off, all you have to

15:55

do on the day off then is scramble your

15:57

eggs. And then after that, everything becomes assembly. So

16:00

I would say it's still possible, but I certainly hear you

16:02

if you feel like, oh my God, this is one thing

16:04

too many. And I have a solution for that, but we'll

16:06

come to that later. Do you? Yeah. Do you

16:08

wanna talk about that now? Cause I'm ready to give

16:10

Catherine her out. I'm ready to give her the lot.

16:12

No, Catherine's doing this. You just, no, you just wound

16:15

up and you just

16:17

like, you zipped in a four seam fastball.

16:19

I don't play any kind of sport at

16:21

all. Four seamer. I know,

16:23

I just listened to my kids say these words. Like

16:25

which sport is it? I think it's baseball. Oh, okay.

16:28

That's too American for me. But

16:31

like, so I have a lob. Okay,

16:33

Catherine, I'm giving you an out because

16:35

listen, I think the crunch wrap is

16:37

captivating. I think it's what I, what

16:40

my preamble was all in service to

16:42

kind of contextualizing that I think it's

16:44

hard to ask people to do too

16:46

much before dinnertime when it comes to

16:49

entertaining. You know what I mean? Yeah.

16:51

Like brunch, I think as we found

16:53

with your story, Shilpa, it's a very

16:55

particular type of entertaining to have people

16:57

over in daytime. And I

17:00

think in a lot of cases and a lot of

17:02

those situations, a lot of us like we're

17:04

getting bagels. You know what I mean? We're

17:06

like making a big platter of scrambled eggs

17:08

and some smoked salmon and throwing toast and

17:10

coffee at people and like that is plenty

17:12

good enough for my family, you know? So

17:14

this is your out Catherine. Cowboy

17:17

breakfast casserole with sausage and spinach.

17:19

This is an Epicurious recipe developed

17:21

by Joe Severe. This is toasted

17:23

white bread laid out in a

17:26

casserole dish. You are topping it

17:28

with cooked off breakfast sausage. You

17:30

are throwing in some spinach, which

17:32

is fine to use frozen. Basically

17:35

you're just cooking it out with a little bit of scallion.

17:38

Then you are layering that in

17:40

with eggs combined with milk, a

17:42

little bit of Greek yogurt, a

17:44

little bit of mustard, cheddar cheese.

17:47

All right, you're dumping that over the

17:49

sausage and bread. And here's the kicker.

17:51

You can do all that the day

17:53

before. Oh, that is nice. You are

17:55

putting that into a cold oven. The

17:57

morning on which you plan to serve

17:59

it. You are turning on that

18:01

oven and you are waiting exactly 40

18:04

minutes until it is done You are

18:06

removing it and that is it.

18:09

Okay. Yeah Okay.

18:11

All right, here's the deal Christopher. Yeah, I

18:13

feel like you told me That

18:17

I have to come in I did I

18:20

did I was like we got to talk

18:22

about the crunch up. You're like the crunch

18:24

up supreme meanwhile Right

18:27

after I let you think about it. I'm going to go

18:29

behind and say that is a terrible Idea

18:35

happy to be here. No, it's a

18:38

great idea look like Catherine I want

18:40

with every fiber of my being for

18:42

you to make the crunch wrap because

18:44

I want to talk about it But

18:46

I also want her to feel like that's not the

18:48

only play here Yes, but I

18:50

really am torn because I want

18:53

like a beautiful special breakfast Hmm,

18:55

but I also really like the idea of being able to

18:58

do everything ahead of time. So I'm like really

19:00

torn Listen at

19:02

some point like make both of them ultimately you

19:04

do have to make a choice now She'll bet

19:06

was there another one because it seems like you

19:08

had a little lace up your sleeve I

19:10

well, yeah, I did have another idea. Okay, it

19:13

was just when you talk about your other

19:15

idea It's wild card the wild

19:17

card. It's not a specific recipe, but it's an idea

19:20

What do you even know how the

19:22

show works Christopher we traffic in absolute

19:25

Catherine got it. She can figure it out. She's it

19:27

ain't in the app. We don't give a crap. Come

19:29

on Yes,

19:32

okay, wonderful you're getting a bonus this

19:34

year Okay,

19:40

the idea the idea was something in

19:42

between not quite a casserole But something

19:44

that's large format and there's not much

19:46

assembly going into it and the idea

19:48

was sort of based on do you

19:51

remember? Jesse made the sheet

19:53

pan a berry shortcake over the

19:55

slab shortcake lab shortcake. Yeah,

19:57

which is good basic

20:00

just a giant berry shortcake that

20:02

he makes on sheet pan and

20:04

then he bakes it off, comes

20:06

out tops it with cream and

20:08

berries. So I was like, oh,

20:10

why can't you take that concept?

20:12

Make like sheet pan biscuits. Slap

20:14

biscuits. Yeah. Yes. And

20:17

then put like a sausage gravy on top. Sausage

20:19

gravy, even like some eggs, just like layer it

20:21

up all in there. There you go, like rice

20:23

and eggs. You can make the

20:25

gravy ahead. You can always reheat it. Make

20:27

the biscuit dough ahead the day before. Put

20:29

it on your sheet pan, put it in

20:31

the fridge and then just bake it the

20:34

day off. Reheat your sausage gravy, pour it

20:36

on top. If you're really feeling generous, fry

20:38

some eggs, throw it all on there, serve

20:40

it to everyone. That sounds so good. That

20:42

sounds awesome. Do you have like a good

20:44

biscuit recipe? Inez made really

20:46

good sausage and biscuit. Yes, the

20:48

sausage and biscuit recipe. That was really, that was good.

20:51

Let me check if it's unhappy curious actually. Like would you

20:53

cut out the biscuits or would you just

20:55

like fill the sheet pan? So I think what

20:57

I would do is cut them out but not

20:59

stamp, not with a circle cutter. Like just use

21:01

a knife to cut them into squares. Yeah,

21:03

never do circular biscuits. Yeah.

21:06

It's just a waste. It's just a waste. You

21:08

don't need those scraps in your life. You're right. You don't.

21:10

Yeah. Okay. So cut them into squares or whatever

21:12

shape you can manage with a knife. Sometimes it's

21:14

rectangular and then just put them back on the

21:17

sheet tray pretty close to each other. Maybe like

21:19

just a quarter inch gap. So that gives them

21:21

enough space for the heat to penetrate all around

21:23

but it still kind of grow together. And that

21:25

way there's also like a natural partition. When it

21:28

comes time to serve, it's easy to portion. It's

21:30

more like a pull apart biscuit. Pull apart

21:32

biscuit. Love that. So you can

21:34

get like a little bit of crispiness

21:36

around the top edges but they're conjoined

21:38

nonetheless. Yeah. As they bake, they'll kind

21:41

of spread and stick together but not fully.

21:43

As for the biscuit recipe, Inez, again, our

21:45

chef's kitchen coordinator, her biscuits with

21:47

sausage gravy recipe should be just blooming out of

21:49

the water. So those are the two recipes I

21:52

would recommend. Oh yeah. Oh man, that

21:54

sounds awesome too. I'm so undecided.

21:57

Yeah. Think about it. Listen, this is a

21:59

choose your own adventure. format and honestly whatever

22:01

you do you know hats off

22:04

to you like little kids trying

22:06

to do something special really create like

22:08

that really wonderful kind of like special

22:10

aura peaceful food-filled wonderful atmosphere

22:12

whatever you do it's gonna be

22:15

great okay all right thank you

22:17

so much bye we're

22:23

going to take another short break when we

22:25

come back does Catherine have a new Christmas

22:27

morning tradition or do

22:29

we need to go back to the casserole during board hi

22:40

I'm Lala Eric ugly host of women

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23:35

you listen to your podcast Hi

23:47

Catherine so sorry for the delay it's all

23:49

shelf is full well here I am okay

23:55

Catherine how's everything been good yeah

23:57

I heard you did you did

24:00

the dry run, the thing happened. Yep, I made

24:02

it. Now, I think we've got some

24:04

tape from Michelle, and I want to do the reveal

24:06

that way. Michelle, you want to roll it? Okay,

24:11

so it took me a very long

24:13

time to decide which recipe to do,

24:15

because there are things I like about

24:18

all of them. But

24:20

what finally narrowed it down

24:22

for me was I was talking to my

24:24

sister, and she reminded me

24:27

that when I was pregnant with my kids, I

24:30

had the biggest craving

24:32

for Taco Bell, which

24:36

is hilarious. And

24:38

I kind of feel like it's part of

24:40

our family lore now. And so

24:42

I kind of feel like a, you

24:45

know, improved, totally upgraded,

24:47

beautiful version of a

24:49

Taco Bell dish would

24:51

be such a perfect

24:53

Christmas morning. Wow.

24:56

I knew the second you said craving,

24:58

it's like, what, you had a

25:00

craving for like a cowboy breakfast

25:03

casserole? I don't think so. You had

25:05

a craving for Taco Bell. I don't know where. I

25:07

think that's great. Michelle, do you want to walk us

25:12

through

25:14

how

25:17

the Crunchwrap for a crowd gets assembled? Yeah, sure. So

25:19

after you've made all your components. You

25:25

start by overlapping four big

25:27

tortillas in the bottom of a cast

25:29

iron skillet, letting the extra hang

25:32

over the pan. The first

25:34

layer is American cheese. And

25:36

you have to use American cheese. And the face is

25:38

after that you put your doctored

25:40

up refried beans on top of that,

25:42

followed by a layer of avocado. Then

25:45

you put in your scrambled egg, which you've scrambled

25:47

with a little bit of whole milk and cornstarch.

25:49

And the cornstarch keeps it like extra silky. Then

25:52

you do the chorizo, more cheese,

25:55

and finally the chips. Then

25:57

you top it off with one final tortilla. and

26:00

fold that overhang on top to seal

26:02

everything in and stick

26:04

it in the oven and prepare for

26:06

an amazing breakfast. I'm

26:09

just dying to know, how did it

26:11

go? It went so well.

26:13

I will say, it was

26:16

much better than actual Taco Bell. OK.

26:20

It was delicious. It really turned

26:22

out so well. OK, I

26:25

mean, I'm like a little bit of a

26:27

tone of surprise creeping into my voice. Wow,

26:29

Christopher, what a want of confidence. No,

26:31

listen, there's something about,

26:33

OK, dear listener, you

26:36

need an overlapping sort

26:38

of circle of large flour tortillas in

26:44

the bottom of the skillet. Remember, this is a podcast where

26:46

we sell people on our recipes. No, but I'm painting a

26:48

picture. No, no, no. I'm

26:51

just saying like four kids. Four

26:54

kids? Are you kidding me? Like if

26:56

everybody got a quesadilla in my life,

26:58

I had four kids, I would consider

27:00

myself doing great. OK,

27:03

so, Catherine, you took on a

27:05

bigger project because there is a

27:07

certain assembly involved in creating

27:09

the Crunchwrap for a crowd. There just is.

27:11

There it is. There definitely was. I

27:14

will say, it was not that make ahead

27:16

of a dish. It

27:19

took a lot of assembly. But I

27:22

don't know if this is crazy, but

27:24

now that we had it and then

27:26

we had the leftovers, I will say

27:28

that the leftovers were pretty good. They're

27:31

not bad, right? I kind

27:33

of feel like the only thing

27:35

that got weird was the chips,

27:37

the second day. So I kind

27:39

of want to try assembling it

27:41

ahead of time, minus the chips.

27:43

I feel like you could. Even

27:45

the eggs were good at the leftovers. Yeah, leaving

27:47

the chips out, if you're doing it ahead, leaving the

27:49

chips out is certainly the way to go. Yeah,

27:52

I think if I was going to make it

27:54

again, I would try assembling everything but the chips

27:57

the night before, because the assembly does take a

27:59

minute. because it's all of these layers.

28:04

In the morning when all the kids are like, why don't we

28:07

eat breakfast? But

28:09

they still ate the breakfast, Christopher. And they still

28:11

enjoy it. Why are you looking at

28:13

me with that like, mug sense

28:15

of satisfaction? Because you are

28:18

glaring at me. I

28:20

gave her some side eye. It's true.

28:23

No, but Catherine, honestly, the fact

28:25

that you took that on, I'm

28:27

so delighted because it is so

28:29

good. Shilpa sent me home to

28:31

Philadelphia a couple different times with

28:33

big wedges of the Crunchwrap.

28:35

And I have to tell you, same

28:38

reaction. The day after, oh,

28:40

the eggs are the least of your problem.

28:43

Yeah, the eggs are good. They like the

28:45

best really well. No problem.

28:47

Everything is like such a delight.

28:50

It's such a captivating centerpiece

28:52

of a dish. Yeah, it

28:54

does look like fun.

28:57

Amazing. What did the kids think? So

29:01

I have one good eater,

29:04

my four-year-old. One out of four

29:06

is not bad. If you're in a game, you

29:08

know those are odds you would take any day.

29:11

Yeah, she is awesome, but like

29:13

all my other kids are difficult. So

29:16

anyway, she really liked it. The

29:18

other kids like tried it, but

29:21

it wasn't a hit yet. But

29:25

we liked it enough that I'm willing to make it

29:27

again until they like it. Wow.

29:30

Wow. Is there any way in

29:32

which you could imagine amending or

29:34

modifying it that might make it

29:36

slightly more in line with their

29:39

preferences? So

29:41

they are a little sensitive

29:43

to spiciness. So

29:46

I really liked the chorizo, that

29:48

kind of kick. But if I was trying

29:50

to get them to eat it, we might

29:52

go for a different kind of sausage or

29:54

crumbly or something. You could

29:56

just do eggs. Breakfast sausage. Breakfast sausage.

29:59

Yeah. Yeah, I

30:01

think like a bacon, egg, and cheese. You can

30:03

do it like a cheese. The egg's just the same

30:05

way and then do like crisp fresh version of bacon

30:07

and then lots of cheese and call it a day.

30:09

Wrap it up. Oh, that does sound good.

30:11

So do you think there is a realistic possibility

30:13

that you will make this again for Christmas morning?

30:16

Oh yeah, for sure. Especially like where I

30:18

assembled it the night before. I do

30:20

like the idea, I mean, just

30:23

of trying different flavors in

30:25

the layers because my

30:27

kids, I mean, individually they like all

30:30

that stuff. They like eggs, like

30:32

they like sausage, they like chips. So I

30:34

mean, there's a chance they would eat it.

30:37

A chance, we'll take it. I mean,

30:40

listen, there's always the cowboy

30:42

breakfast casserole, you

30:44

know, don't sleep on it. Just

30:47

saying entirely make ahead,

30:50

put it into a cold oven

30:52

Christmas morning, get the fire going.

30:55

Kids are eating cereal. Okay, Chris, we're making it

30:57

through. Let me paint the picture. Oh my gosh.

30:59

Anyway, I'm just saying it's there. It's

31:02

on the website. It's there

31:04

for you. I do

31:06

love how it's so hands up. I do

31:08

want to try that. And I also want

31:10

to try the biscuits and gravy. So yeah,

31:12

I think we'll definitely try both recipes. Well,

31:14

listen, thank you so much for doing this.

31:17

I'm glad like Christmas could come a little

31:19

bit early, perhaps this year. And

31:21

yeah, if you make any substitutions, or you do

31:23

anything that actually gets three out of four kids

31:25

to eat it, please let us know. All

31:28

right. Sounds good. Thanks,

31:30

Catherine. If

31:36

you have a dinner emergency on your hands,

31:38

write to us at dinner.sos.com or leave us

31:42

a voice message at two and two two

31:45

eight six. So s one two

31:47

one two two eight six seven zero

31:49

seven one. We'd love to feature your

31:51

question on the ship. You

31:53

can find the recipes mentioned on

31:55

today's episode, Crunchwrap for a crowd

31:58

cowboy breakfast, casseroles, sausage and spinach,

32:00

and biscuits and gravy on the Epicurious

32:02

app brought to you by Conde Nast.

32:04

Just search Epicurious in the app store

32:07

and download today. If

32:09

you enjoyed this episode, please give us

32:11

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32:13

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32:15

that follow button so you never miss an

32:17

episode. Thanks for listening

32:19

to Dinner SOS. I'm your

32:21

host, Chris Morocco. My cohost

32:24

this week is Shilpa Skokovich. Our

32:26

producer is Michelle O'Brien. Jordan Bell

32:28

is our executive producer. Hayden Hayes

32:30

is our associate producer. Cameron Fuss is

32:33

our assistant producer. Jake Lemus

32:35

is our studio engineer. Mar Lahl

32:37

makes this episode. Happy New Year

32:40

everybody. See you in 2024. Okay

32:44

Christopher. What do you mean? Okay.

32:46

Why the tone? No, I didn't

32:48

think there was a tone. I was like okay.

32:51

I don't mean your validation.

32:53

I'm just getting started. Okay,

32:56

continue on. Okay. Hi

32:59

listeners, it's Chris. On Dinner

33:01

SOS, we offer you cooking advice to make

33:04

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