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.
Random moosages as I see fit. 