Random moosages as I see fit.

You know how I’m always trying to get rid of food?  Yeah.

I’ve been seeing a lot of stratas recently floating around the food blogs and social media.  I’ve never made one before, but I have made quiches and the like.  A strata seemed much easier since I didn’t have to work with a pie crust (not that pie crusts are hard, but I’m lazy and don’t want to make one for quiche purposes).  But I did have sliced bread I wanted to use up, as well as some aging grape tomatoes and some frozen French cut green beans.  Garbage strata it is.  Added benefit: you can assemble the night before and bake the following morning.

I had half a loaf of Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains and Seeds (not so much that it was whole grain as because that I like seeded breads) that I wanted to use up.  Also, my grape tomatoes were starting to get kind of shrively.  And the frozen green beans had been in my freezer for a while.  It was definitely time to get rid of some of this stuff.

I grabbed my cast iron skillet, because it was just sitting there, and covered the bottom with six slices of bread.  Then I layered some deli sliced chicken over the bread, followed by halved grape tomatoes, then covered the top with green beans, and finally maybe about half a cup of shredded extra sharp cheddar (also something I’m trying to get rid of).  Dusted the top with pepper and poured a mixture of six beaten eggs and 2 cups of milk (1% because that’s what I had, but I would recommend whole if you have it) over everything.  I didn’t add any salt because the chicken and cheese were already pretty salty.  I covered everything with plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge overnight.

I took the strata out in the morning when I started preheating the oven to 350degF and then stuck it in the oven for about an hour.  The top wasn’t quite as brown as I wanted so turned on the broiler for a few minutes before taking it out of the oven.  The middle of the strata will probably be a bit jiggly when you take it out.  You will have to let it sit for 5-10min or so and it’ll firm up.

End result: delicious.  The cheese and chicken imparted enough salt to their surroundings, so I’m glad I didn’t add more salt.  I think next time, I might put a little more cheese and add green onions.  The strata is also very good with some Tabasco.