Foodie Friday--Strata or Breakfast Casserole

This recipe is called Strata—no, I have no idea where the name came from—or breakfast casserole, or simply baked eggy-bready-cheesy-goodness-made-from-refrigerator-leftovers.

Whatever it’s called, it’s yummy.

The beauty of this breakfast casserole is that you can make it any way you want. If you want to go a little Italian, then brown Italian sausage (mild or spicy) and add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Or make it using diced ham or bacon, instead of sausage. Add browned onions, or grape tomatoes, diced poblano or jalapeno peppers, or sauté spinach, drain and chop it. If you want more smoky spice then add chipotle powder. Or if you want a herbier type of casserole, add dried sage. Use whatever you happen to have on hand, it doesn’t matter. All you need is the basic eggs, milk, bread and cheese, leave the rest to your imagination.

This recipe calls for white bread slices, but I don’t like white bread, so I used a ½ loaf of French Country bread (weighed—about 8-10 ounces), or use Italian bread, or French bread, it doesn’t really matter. The staler the better since the eggy mixture is absorbed into the bread, like soaking French Toast.

The cheese can be whatever cheese you like. If you don’t have any idea what to use, use a sharp cheddar as the flavor will be a little stronger. And no, the cheese quantity is optional. Personally, I use far more cheese in my strata recipe than recommended . . . like two or three times the amount. This recipe is the perfect way of getting rid of those little chunks of random cheese left over from other recipes. I used a white cheddar cheese and a Mexican cheese blend, but I plan to use my leftover Gruyere and Fontina cheese the next time I make this recipe, which will be Christmas day . . . er, actually, I’ll make it Christmas Eve, but it will soak overnight before I bake it on Christmas day.  

Enjoy!

 

Strata or Breakfast Casserole

8 eggs

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard

½ tsp. white pepper

2 cups milk

1 lb. bulk sausage, browned and degreased

6 slices of bread, cubed, about 8 cups

2 cup cheese, grated 

Fry sausage, breaking apart until cooked. Drain fat, blot excess fat with paper towels. Set aside. Cube bread. Set aside.

In large bowl, whisk eggs, salt, mustard, and pepper. Whisk in milk. Fold in grated cheese and bread.

Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake Strata for 35 minutes until browned and set.

Serve immediately.

 

Tips & Tricks

·         Use LARGE eggs

·         I don’t drink regular milk; 2% milk works fine. I added a little cream to the milk to give it a slightly higher fat content.

·         Use spray oil for the pan. It’s easier

·         When I baked this for my work gang, I put the casserole in a cold oven and turned it on to 350 degrees while I showered and dressed. I wasn’t about to putter around while waiting for the oven to preheat.  I added 15-20 minutes to the stated baking time and kept an eye on it toward the end.

·         The dry mustard and white pepper give the casserole a little zing. Put your own spin on the basic recipe. Add whatever seasonings you feel like.  

 

Foodie Friday -- Pot Roast

So you're thinking, "Any idiot can make a pot roast, why do I need a recipe?"

Good comment, but let me tell you that until I looked up recipes, I had been doing it wrong.

Actually, my greatest mistake was not cooking it long enough . . . by an hour or two. Yeah, that much makes a big difference.

So I open my Pioneer Woman cookbook and see what she does to make her pot roast so special.

Not much.

I followed her instructions and discovered that you can't get the yummy burnt bits from the onions, carrots and roast when you use a non-stick pan. Bummer. So I had to make adjustments.

Here's my version of:

Pot Roast

2-3 pound roast--suitable for oven cooking, without marbling

1 Tbls. oil

carrots--I had bag of baby cut carrots

2-3 onions, peeled and cut in half

2 cups of beef broth (or more)

large sprig of rosemary, about 6-inches long

5-6 stems of thyme, about 3-4 inches long

2 lb. of mixed potatoes (Yukon gold, red, blue)

2 pkgs. brown gravy mix

Place large pot (5 quart) on stove over high heat. Add oil. When oil is shimmery add onions. Toss onions around until they are slightly charred. Remove from pan and add carrots. When carrots get slightly charred, remove. Season roast with sea salt and pepper, all sides. Place roast in pan and sear all sides. Add the onions, carrots. thyme and rosemary. Add enough broth to reach 2/3 of the way up the roast. Bring to boil and then lower heat to low simmer. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours. Add potatoes and cook until potatoes are fork-tender, about an hour. In the last 15 minutes, empty pouches of gravy mix into 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Ladle cooking broth into cup and stir, then mixed add back into pot with the roast.
Roast should be tender by this time. Remove roast and slice into thick slices, about 1/2 inch. Place slice in deep bowl and ladle carrots, potatoes, onions and gravy over beef.

Hints & Suggestions:

· As I mentioned, a non-stick pans won't leave charred bits on the bottom of the pan to enhance the gravy. Bummer, but there you go.

· I happen to eat a lot of those pre-washed baby carrots so I had them on hand. If you have regular carrots, just cut them in 2-inch chunks and throw them in the pot.

· I put potatoes in the pot, but if you don't want to do that just make mashed potatoes to get a starch in your diet. Plop the taters in your bowl, add a thick slice of meat and then douse in gravy and vegs.

· Much taste testing was performed on the meat during the last hour of cooking. Total cooking time was 5 hours. Yes, FIVE hours.

I think that it's for now.

 

Later, Peeps!