Making Do Dinner Strata

These days, a major goal is limiting the number of times we venture out to the grocery store, so I like making up meals with food on hand. Fortunately, I had all the ingredients to make up a substantial dinner strata. In fact, knowing that we would be picking up an order of fantastic bread from Singe at the Chevy Chase Farmers Market in the morning, I wanted to use up some (13 day!) old bread. More on that later, but first, as requested:

The Recipe, Skeleton Version

4+ cups of old bread, cubed *
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup country ham, finely chopped **
1 cup + grated cheese ***
1 cup + roughly chopped (or snipped) spinach
butter for preparing the casserole and for sautéing the onions/ham
salt and pepper
seasoning (I used some Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning)

     Whisk the eggs and milk together and let sit while you prepare the other ingredients. Saute the chopped onion in some butter and olive oil for about 5 minutes, just until softened and add in the ham just to meld the flavors. You can add the seasoning you want to use to this mixture, along with some pepper. Add a modest amount of salt to the egg mixture (country ham and cheese provide a lot of saltiness).
     Place half of the bread cubes in the bottom of a buttered casserole. Cover that with half of the spinach, the seasoned onion/ham mixture and then not quite half of the cheese. Repeat with a second layer. Pour the egg mixture over and put a little extra grated cheese on top, if you wish. I used a smallish, but deep casserole.
     Most recipes call for refrigerating the strata for 8 hours or overnight. The strata is removed half an hour before cooking. Bake at 350 degrees, covered, for 35 minutes. Remove foil, or top and cook another 20 minutes or until golden. Let rest for 10 minutes. That is the guidance I got from recipes--Here is what I did because I had not planned ahead:   Place in fridge for 1 hour. Remove to warm to room temperature for 30 minutes. Place in oven, covered and set to 300 degrees to slowly begin warming. Leave for 30 minutes and turn up to 325 and bake 20 minutes. Remove covering and turn heat up to 375 for 20 minutes or until golden. Let rest briefly before digging in.

* We had about a third of a loaf of Pain au levain and a bit of some Vollkornbrot (German, for whole grain bread, I believe) from Bluegrass Baking Company. The bread had been stored in paper bags, so it was hard as a rock, but still quite tasty. I had to hose the bread down a couple of times, wrap loosely in foil and warm to soften it up for cutting. When you store bread in plastic bags, it stays softer, but can mold quite quickly. Both of these breads were sourdough breads which give an amazing tang to the strata and blends so well with the ham and cheese. Singe breads (what we picked up today) are made of freshly milled whole grain flours. While we don't live by bread alone, a good bread sure brings a lot of sweetness (and tang) to life!

** David had the idea to get a petite country ham for Easter. It was a great idea because a small ham (about 2 lbs) will last us at least a month. Ham can be used in the traditional way, as a type of seasoning. The saltiness and intense flavor go a long way!

*** I used a mixture of smoked Gouda, parmesan and a bit of cheddar. The smoked Gouda is the product of Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese, from Austin, Kentucky. The flavor is perfect with the tangy sourdough and the salty ham.

     We were delighted with our little meal, which we served with a simple salad. We have enough for another meal. Naturally, this can be adjusted to suit your pantry and your tastes. You might also want to increase the ratio of the egg mixture to the bread. I see that I am presenting this similarly to how I instruct art; I encourage experimentation!

     Stay safe and sated!

Our haul from Singe today: Ancient grain crackers, Double Fermented Pumpernickel with Blue emmer sprouts, Buckwheat Walnut crackers, Traditional Country Sourdough baguette. The pumpernickel will be placed in a paper bag--future meals await--perhaps a strata with sauerkraut?