Cheesy Tomato Spinach Breakfast Strata Recipe - Tasting Table

"Preparing warm food early in the morning is a daunting task for any host; the easiest way to make it seem effortless is to prepare it ahead of time. With strata, a casserole made out of bread, eggs, milk, and cheese, breakfast for a crowd is a breeze - and you don't even have to get up extra early to make it."

"Strata isn't too different from eggy, fluffy frittata - the distinction is that strata includes bread cubes, which are baked into a simultaneously soft and crunchy texture (kind of like Thanksgiving stuffing). It's essentially a bread pudding, but with savory ingredients instead of sweet - making it an excellent alternative to French toast bakes and Dutch baby pancakes. This cheesy tomato and spinach breakfast strata recipe, written with developer Michelle McGlinn, is a perfectly savory,"

"While we love the tangy, earthy flavors of sourdough bread, you can use any crusty bread here so long as there's enough to fill the casserole dish. As one of the best ways to use stale bread, we recommend using bread that is a few days old - this will help infuse the bread with flavor rather than go soggy. After you find bread, you'll also need bacon, onion, garlic, spinach, fontina cheese, feta, eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and plenty of tomato."

Strata is a make-ahead savory casserole of bread, eggs, milk, and cheese that bakes into a soft-and-crunchy, bread-pudding-like texture. The dish differs from a frittata by including bread cubes, producing both fluffy egg and toasted bread elements. Day-old crusty bread, such as sourdough, is recommended to prevent sogginess and add flavor. Typical mix-ins include bacon, onion, garlic, spinach, fontina, feta, and plenty of tomatoes; cocktail tomatoes work well. Fresh tomatoes hold high water content and will release moisture when sliced or salted, so avoid slicing them far in advance to prevent excess liquid in the soaked strata.

Read at Tasting Table