Nebraska Cornhuskers Tailgate "Jersey Style" Versus Rutgers

It’s week nine and the Nebraska Cornhuskers are playing the Rutgers. A big HUSKER welcome to the Scarlet Knights from New Jersey. It’s a morning tailgate. Sadly, I think we have seen the end of the night games for the 2014 season.

I look for Ameer Abdullah & De’Mornay Pierson-El to rough them up Jersey style this week. In case you didn’t get a chance to check Rutgers out, they claim to be the “birthplace of college football.” Um….ok.

They were the college No. 8 to be founded in the colonies and the only state university to have existed before the Revolutionary War. Three campuses comprise the University: Camden, Newark and New Brunswick.

In total, Rutgers boasts 52,000 students and was founded in 1766 as the Queen’s College. It was later changed to Rutgers in 1825, but they didn’t speak of a scarlet knight riding a spirited white charger until 1955.

TAILGATE: Keeping true to JERSEY fashion (I’m thinking thick Jersey accents and Italian heritages), I’ve got a couple of “breakfast pies” on the menu. In the Heartland we would say “breakfast pizza”.

The good thing about the tailgate is you can keep it warm with the Sterno below the pan, and it’s even good after it’s been sitting a while. However, cooking it AT the tailgate? FA-GETT-ABOUT-IT!

BREAKFAST LASAGNA

1 pound lasagna noodles
8 Eggs
1 cup Mozzarella
1 cup Cheddar cheese
1 cup Ricotta

SAUCE

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 pound loose breakfast sausage
1 onion
1 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes

Sauce: Brown up the sausage and remove from the pan. In the same pan, cook the onions until lightly brown.

Add in the butter and flour and stir well, cooking for about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and add the sausage back in. Strain the diced tomatoes and stir into the sauce.

Cook noodles until tender. In a small bowl, whisk two eggs. Prepare a frying pan to cook the eggs that is the same size as your round baking dish (I have just pieced it together in a rectangle one too).

In the baking dish, start with a thin layer of sauce, followed by a first layer of noodles, then more sauce and all three cheeses.

Cook the first egg round in the frying pan for only a few minutes without flipping until it has just barely set on top.

Transfer the egg to the top of the noodles, then repeat with another layer of everything. Top with final pasta layer and a little more cheese and sauce and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes. Makes enough for 2 8-inch rounds.

Here’s another recipe I have precooked and warmed up on site:

Bacon and Potato Breakfast Pizza

1 can Pillsbury crescent rolls (or dough sheet)
1 9 ounce box Green Giant frozen roasted potatoes with garlic & herbs
4 eggs
1/3 cup milk
8 slices precooked bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Oven at 350 degrees. Spray 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray. Unroll dough into pan, press in bottom add ½ inches up the sides to form the crust; press perforations to seal. Bake 5 minutes.

Tailgating Week 9: Nebraska Cornhuskers take on Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Jersey Style)

By Kelli Anne | Oct 23, 2014