I’m loving the idea of having “special guests” feature on my blog, and today, I’d like to introduce you to old high school chum Peter Martin. Peter was on Facebook this Christmas morning posting pictures of his beautiful daughters and singing the praises of a Wife Saver recipe, which immediately caught my attention.

Wife-saver is an attractive name for a recipe, because it implies simplicity, something that does not require any lessons how to chiffonade leafy greens, or explain why “we” don’t make tourtière at Christmas. To me, it means, the husband can cook this completely on his own, and his partner in life can easily spend time soaking in the tub, reading a book and not have to flinch with something goes bang in the kitchen. It means a few moments of serenity.  So I post this for all the men out there who might want to give their wife a break (hint hint, oh I hint) and cook up something delicious to feed a crowd.

It should be noted that Peter is the one that got me connected with Opimiam wine club, and thus my overwhelming wine supply. You will soon understand how it is that Peter and I got along so well in high school.

Here’s the Wife Saver recipe, in Peter’s own words:

16 Slices whole grain bread, crusts removed
16 Slices of Canadian back bacon or turkey bacon
Shredded sharp (old) cheddar cheese (Emmenthaler too???)
4 Eggs & 1 small carton of egg whites
½ tsp pepper
½ to 1 tsp dry mustard
¼ cup minced onion
¼ cup finely chopped green pepper ( I use celery, less overpowering…u know?)
1 to 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (I don’t subscribe to this one)
3 cups skim milk
Dash Tabasco
½ cup butter
Special “K” or crushed Cornflakes

Directions

Open a bottle of wine…preferably a magnum.

Put 8 pieces of bread in a 13- x 9-inch (3L) buttered glass baking dish and replenish your fishbowl with a stem with your wine of choice. Cover dish entirely with bread slices. Cover bread with thinly sliced bacon. In butter, fry vegetables until translucent or until your glass of wine needs a refill. Spread over top of bacon. Top with grated cheddar cheese or emmenthaler. Butter the tops of 8 more pieces of bread, and place buttered side up on top of the cheese. Chase it with a rum n egg nog.
In a bowl, beat eggs, egg whites and pepper. Add mustard, Worcestershire, milk and Tabasco and mix until blended or until your scotch glass needs refilling. Pour over the bread (not the scotch silly, the egg mixture) cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, cover with crushed Special “K” or Cornflakes (I don’t do this because the crumbs get in my fishbowl).
Bake at 350°F (180°C) covered, 1 hour. Then remove cover and cook til brown. Let sit 10 minutes before serving. Serve with fresh fruit and tequila shots.