Breakfast Strata with What You Gotta

This was one of my go-to recipes when I cooked at a bed and breakfast. You prep it the night before and cook it the following day, making it particularly awesome for holidays and brunches. It’s also a great way to clean out your refrigerator, as you can easily use the vegetables, breads and cheese you have on hand. No mushrooms? Use zucchini! Only have green onions? Just fine! Have half a stale baguette from last night? Use it up. You get the idea.

Serves 6+

Ingredients

• 1 T of butter or olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)
• 1 T finely chopped garlic
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups of any unsweetened milk
• 1 T of chopped herbs (whatever you have basil, chives, rosemary, parsley, thyme, etc. No fresh herbs? Use 1 t of dried herbs)
• 1 t of salt
• 1/4 t of ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 c of bread cut into cubes (you can use wheat, gluten free, sourdough, etc and the more stale, the better!)
• 1 1/2 c of grated cheese (whatever you have, cheddar, jack, parmesan, goat, feta)

Method

Melt the butter/oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and sauté the onions and peppers until tender and slightly brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute, then throw in your mushrooms or other vegetable and briefly cook until soft. Remove from heat.

Whisk together eggs, milk, herbs, salt and pepper.

Arrange the bread cubes in a casserole 8×11 dish that you have coated with cooking spray. Add the vegetables and 1 cup of cheese then pour the egg mixture on top, pressing the contents down if necessary so the bread is completely covered.

Cover the pan and put in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight. When ready to cook, remove from refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350F. Sprinkle the strata with remaining cheese and bake, uncovered for 50 minutes or until bubbling and the top is crusty and golden. Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting into squares.