Sausage Strata

5 from 5 votes

Use this recipe as a guide, not dogma. Keep the proportions, but you can alter the ingredients depending on what you like and what you have handy.

Prep Time45

Cook Time1

Soaking Time1

Total Time2 45

Course: Breakfast, lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

Butter to grease the dish
1 pound uncased sausage
1 large yellow or white onion, chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
1 pound greens, such as chard, spinach or kale, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
4 cups dried or stale bread, in cubes
7 ounces shredded cheese, any kind
2 cups whole milk
6 eggs
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Grease a casserole dish with butter. Break up the sausage and put in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage well, stirring occasionally.
When the sausage browns, add the onion and mushrooms. If you sausage is lean, add some butter. Salt everything well. Brown the mushrooms and onion.
Add the chopped spinach or other greens, as well as the herbs and some pepper. Once the greens are wilted, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.
In a large bowl, mix the contents of the pan with the bread cubes and a little mustard. In another bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. Once the meat mixture has cooled enough so that it won't cook the eggs, mix everything together, including all but a little of the cheese -- you'll want some cheese to top the strata.
Pack this into the casserole dish, cover an let it sit at least 1 hour, and up to overnight. Generally speaking, the harder the bread is, the longer the soak.
When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake 30 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and bake uncovered another 30 minutes. Let the strata set for 10 miinutes before cutting into squares and serving.

Notes

Keep in mind that any sort of sausage, any sort of greens, a wide variety of cheeses and types of bread all work here. You can also add fun things like sun-dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers. If you do, I'd say a quarter cup to a half cup is about right.

Nutrition