This might be the best thing I’ve ever made. And that’s saying a lot. But everyone who tried this thinks the same thing, so…yeah, it’s pretty tasty. Strata is a bit like a savory bread pudding, or stale bread baked in custard, and this take is pretty great!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! Funny story, I actually made this while attempting to make stuffing for Thanksgiving. Except we were out of vegetable stock, and celery, and herbs, and like…everything you need for stuffing…oops, my fault for writing the grocery list in a hurry. So I had to improvise, and I ended up deciding to pivot to milk instead of stock, which basically turns it from stuffing to bread in custard, which is strata. Strata also has more eggs in it than stuffing. I used cheese, vegetarian bacon, onions, and scallions for the flavoring, but the great thing about this recipe is that it’s easy to swap out ingredients depending on what you have.

Ingredients

• Brioche bread, or any similar soft bread like challah, pullman, or even milk bread. Stale bread is best here, or if you don’t have stale bread, you can pop it in the oven to dry out.
• Vegetarian bacon, or another similar savory ingredient
• Butter
• Garlic
• Onion
• Scallions, or you could substitute chives or leeks
• Parmesan, cheddar, gruyere, or any other sharp cheese
• Milk
• Eggs

Tips

• If you don’t have day-old bread, you can do this: Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the bread in the oven for 10-25 minutes or until it is dry on the outside. Try not to toast it, but if it does toast a little that’s not the end of the world.
• Unsliced bread is ideal, since that way you can decide how large you want the chunks of bread to be, but sliced works fine as well.
• Some alternative flavor ideas: Spinach, feta and sundried tomato, or cheddar, scallion, and vegetarian ham. Feel free to get creative!

Breakfast Strata

A delicious breakfast great for using up leftovers!

Prep Time: 30 min	Cook Time: 45 min
Total Time: 75 min	Serves: 8-12

Ingredients

• 1 loaf (about 20 oz) cubed stale brioche or equivalent enriched bread, see Tips for what to do with fresh bread
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 scallions, sliced
• 10 oz vegetarian bacon, diced
• 1 1/2 cups milk, any percentage
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium pan over high heat, saute the onion and garlic in butter until translucent and aromatic. It is okay if the onion caramelizes a little.
3. Add the vegetarian bacon and scallions and saute until everything is heated through and beginning to take on some color.
4. Turn off the heat. Pour the milk into the pan.
5. Whisking constantly, add in the eggs and continue to whisk until incorporated. Stirring constantly is important here to ensure the eggs incorporate without curdling.
6. Stir in the parmesan cheese and half of the cheddar cheese.
7. Arrange the bread cubes in a 9x13 baking dish and pour the milk mixture on top. Stir to ensure all of the bread cubes are more or less evenly soaked.
8. Top with the remaining cheddar cheese.
9. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
10. After 25 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for 20 min or until golden-brown on top.
11. Let cool and enjoy!

Notes

This recipe is vegetarian and pescetarian.