need help with breakfast strata

[c9pilot]

Does anyone have a recipe for a good breakfast strata?

[Beth]

I've done others, but my personal favorite is CL's Breakfast Tortilla Strata with black beans and salsa.

[c9pilot]

I'm looking for a simple stale bread-egg-pork sausage (reduced fat, of course) overnight and bake in the morning strate. I'm not planning to do any more shopping, so no unusual ingredients, please!
Epicurious had a delicious-sounding recipe involving green chilies & chorizo, but alas, can't find good chorizo out here in Maryland.

[RobinC]

The November/December issue of Cooks' Illustrated had an article on stratas. They aren't light, but the are delicious. Perhaps you could adapt a light strata recipe to accomodate one of these. I made the spinach one and the sausage one for a recent baby shower that I threw. Rather than use wine for the reduction, I used chicken broth - it still turned out great.

Breakfast Strata with Spinach and Gruyre
8-10 (1/2 inch thick) slices spermarket French or Italian bread (6-7 ounces) - Should be stale or dried
5 tablesppons unsalted butter, softened
4 medium shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1 (10-ounce) package frozed chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
Salt and ground black pepper
1/2 cup medium-dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 3/4 cups half-and-half

Butter the bread on one side with 2 tablespoons butter, set aside.

Heat 2 taplespoons butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Saute shallots until fragrant and translucent, about 3 minutes; add spinach and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach and shallots are combined, about 2 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl; set aside. Add wine to skillet, increase heat to medium-high, and simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup, 2-3 minutes; set aside.

Butter 8-inch square baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon of butter; arrange half the buttered bread slices, buttered side up, in a single layer in dish. Sprinkle half of spinach mixture, then 1/2 cup grated cheese evenly over bread slices. Arrange remaining bread slices in a single layer over cheese; sprinkle remaining spinach mixture and another 1/2 cup cheese evenly over bread.

Whisk eggs in a medium bowl until combined; whisk in reduced wine, half-and-half, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread layers; cover surface flush with plastic wrap, weigh down and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

Remove dish from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Uncover starta and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of cheese evenly over surface; bake until both edges and center are puffed and edges have pulled away slightly from sides of dish, 50 to 55 minutes (or about 60 minutes for a doubled recipe). Cool on wire rack for 5 mintues; serve.


The article mentions that any good melting cheese may be used - Harvarti, sharp cheddar, colby, etc.
The recipes can also be easily doubled - use a 9x13-inch baking dish and butter the dish with 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.

There are also recipes for Breakfast Strata with Sauasage, Mushrooms, and Monterey Jack (this is what I am making for Christmas morning :D ) and Breakfast Strata with Potatoes, Rosemary, and Fontina. I have to go off to my folks house to deliver a computer, but I will post these recipes later on tonight.

[kimmurphy94]

Here is a basic strata recipe which I've gotten from a community cookbook that my sister-in-law gave me. Its not light, but could easily be adapted by using light cheeses, milk, etc.

12 slices of bread (cubed)
1/2 lb chees (2 c. grated)
2-3 c. cubed ham or sausage
6-8 eggs 2 c milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 c melted butter

Grese 8x12 baking dish. Put half of bread cubes on bottom. Cover with half of cheese and ham. Repeat with remaining bread, ham and cheese. Combine eggs, milk and salt. Pour over bread layers. Drizzle melted butter over top. Cover and refrigerate over night. Bake at 325 for 1 1/4 hours, uncovering last 15 minutes of baking.

Hope this helps.

[chefbecky]

I hope this reaches you in time!! It's a lightened-up version of the traditional sausage-egg casserole.

BREAKFAST SAUSAGE CASSEROLE
Serves 6-8
Serve this dish with some fresh fruit to help bring down the percent calories from fat for the meal.
12 ounces Jimmy Dean Light (50-percent-less-fat) sausage
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
4½ cups sourdough bread cubes (toast about 6 large slices and cut them into ¾-inch squares -- other types of bread can be used, too)
8 ounces shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon salt (optional)
2 large eggs
4 egg whites or ½ cup egg substitute
2 cups low-fat milk
1. Crumble sausage into a medium nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until nicely brown, breaking up into bits with spatula as it cooks. Sprinkle with
poultry seasoning. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with canola cooking spray and set aside.
2 Add sausage to large bowl along with toasted bread squares, cheese, mustard powder, salt if desired. Add eggs and egg whites (or egg substitute) and milk to mixing bowl, and beat on medium-low speed until smooth and completely blended. Drizzle egg-milk mixture over the sausage and bread mixture, and stir to blend.
Pour into the prepared baking dish, spread top evenly, cover with foil, and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake, covered in foil, for 45 minutes. Uncover the foil, and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for about 20 minutes more (or until set.)
Per serving: 385 calories, 30 g protein, 20 g carbohydrate, 20 grams fat, 9 grams saturated fat, 135 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 824 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 47 percent.

[cangoss]

I made the Cook's Illustrated strata today, and it was wonderful. One thing to note - if you're trying to make it from the recipe posted above, the eggs are missing from the ingredient list - you need 6 large eggs. I was lucky to find the recipe in my new "America's Test Kitchen Cookbook", so I could get the proper number of eggs. I doubled the recipe, but lightened it by using half of the butter called for and I also used whole milk instead of half and half and decreased the cheese by a third. Everyone loved it and it was a definate make-again.