Cheese and Spinach Strata

A week ago Saturday, I hosted my Frienzies for brunch, and wrote about it here. I shared my menu among other things. Several dear readers have contacted me to ask about the recipes for some of the dishes, so I will begin to get them out here day by day.

With the craziness of the last 2 weeks and all that Emma's been involved in, I've not done any quilting to speak of, unfortunately. So until I can get some more work going, I will post recipes for the next few days.

First, when trying to decide the main dish for my brunch, I decided to go meatless. I searched the internet for interesting ideas, and found the following at Epicurious. Generally, I would never prepare a dish for guests that I hadn't already made for my family, as practice. This time I did, however, and it all worked out okay.

Spinach and Cheese Strata


Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen spinach, thawed

1 ½ c. finely chopped onion (1 large)

3 T. unsalted butter

1 t. salt

½ t. black pepper

¼ t. freshly grated nutmeg

8 c. cubed (1 inch) French or Italian bread (1/2 lb.)

6 oz. coarsely grated Gruyere (2 c.)

2 oz. finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 c.)

2 ¾ c. milk

9 large eggs

2 T. Dijon mustard

Preparation

1. Squeeze handfuls of spinach, removing as much liquid as possible, and then finely chop.

2. Cook onion in butter in heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring until soft 4-5 minutes. Add half the salt and pepper, and the nutmeg, stirring an additional minute. Add spinach, stir thoroughly, and remove from heat.

3. Spread a third of bread cubes in a buttered 3-qt. baking dish. Top evenly with a third of the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with a third of each of the cheeses. Repeat. Repeat. Be sure to end with cheese.

4. Whisk together milk, eggs, mustard and remaining salt and pepper. Pour evenly over strata. Cover with plastic wrap, chill overnight, at least 8 hours.

(Bread needs this time to absorb the egg/milk mixture.)

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let strata stand at room temp about 30 minutes.

6. Bake uncovered until puffed, golden brown and cooked through, about 45-55 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!