Cooking with Scraps: Any-Season Strata
Servings
4-6 servings
Servings
4-6 servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Grease a 3-quart baking dish with butter.
  2. Whisk the eggs and milk together along with a healthy pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and set aside.
  3. Vegetables and meat need to be cooked before baking, so chop any uncooked items and sauté them with a little butter or olive oil. The amounts you choose can vary widely, and remember that most will shrink after cooking, so it’s hard to overdo it. A small or medium onion and a garlic clove or two are always a good start, and then think about what you have left in your fridge that might work well together. A half pound of sausage and a bunch of spinach (cook the sausage first, and then add the greens to wilt them), or a package of mushrooms with bacon and Swiss cheese, or leftover squash with a small bunch of Swiss chard, or cherry tomatoes with corn cut off of a couple of cobs and blobs of ricotta. (Note that leftover cooked meats and vegetables don’t need to be cooked again.)
  4. Spread about half the bread cubes in the bottom of the buttered dish, then layer on half of the cheese and half of the vegetables and meat. Then repeat: Layer on the rest of the bread and remaining ingredients.
  5. Pour the egg and milk mixture over everything. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
  6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the dish from the refrigerator and bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 30 to 40 minutes. Uncover at the end for some browning action if desired.