Southerners love a casserole. They are church supper staples, great to take to the new neighbor, and equally welcome to a new mom. Cheddar, sometimes called “rat cheese” in the South, ranges in flavor from mild, nutty, and creamy to extra-sharp, rich, and robust. Gruyère is a low-moisture cow’s milk cheese from eastern France and western Switzerland. It has a sweet, rich, almost nutty flavor and is excellent for a cheese sauce. Cheddar cheese is more Southern, though, if you wanted to stay truer to those roots. Turkey sausage is much lower in fat than sausage made from pork and other kinds of meat. Use country-style or coarse-ground sausage, and if purchased in links, remove it from the casing before cooking.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter.
Step 2
In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Add the parsley, thyme, and peppercorns. Cover, remove from the heat, and set aside to steep while cooking the sausage and squash.
Step 3
Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the green onions and the yellow and zucchini squash, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer to a colander to drain.
Step 4
Meanwhile, to make the sauce, in the same skillet used for the squash, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the flour and stir until foamy. Strain the heated milk into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the cheese and stir to melt and combine. Add a little bit of the sauce to the beaten eggs; stir to combine, then add the egg mixture back to the sauce and stir to combine. Add a pinch of cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Step 5
Combine the breadcrumbs and the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano in a small bowl. Set aside.
Step 6
Add the well-drained sausage-squash mixture to the sauce and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with the cheese-breadcrumb mixture. Bake until bubbly and set, about 30 minutes. If necessary, for the last few minutes, broil until the topping is a rich, golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
