Strata is a winning option for feeding a crowd
When someone offers to bring a casserole to a party, I’ll admit to conjuring weary images of canned soup and mushy vegetables. Yet because that sort of dish is a perfectly sensible solution when feeding a crowd, instead, I invite casserole’s Italian cousin, the strata.
A close relative to bread pudding but always savory and never sweet, the layered strata is a winning option for potlucks and holiday gatherings, and it is an easy meal for your own brood, too. Brunch is often where you’ll find stratas, and I also like to serve them for brinner — that happy marriage between breakfast and dinner, so well suited to cold, way-too-busy winter nights.
I offer the accompanying recipe for a crowd, but this squash-and-kale-filled strata studded with sausage can be scaled down easily. Its ingredients may be shuffled around depending on what’s in the refrigerator. The beauty of a strata is that the key ingredients are likely to be on hand; I almost always have a few eggs, some bread, some sort of dairy and a hunk of cheese. I use this recipe as a guide, not a hard-and-fast set of rules. If I have fewer eggs, I will add a little more milk. Less milk, more eggs. Meat or no meat. A combination of vegetables or a singular flavor. Strata is easygoing.
The bread is a key player. My preference is for an enriched bread such as brioche, challah or even torn croissants, but I have even made this dish with leftover Parker House rolls, split in half. Some people like to dry out the bread on a baking sheet for a day or two, as you might for Thanksgiving stuffing, but that takes planning. Instead, I am more likely to make strata when the bread on the counter has gone a little stale all by itself. Plenty of strata recipes call for leftover baguette or sourdough bread, and while there is no reason not to use those options, I make sure to slice craggy crusted breads as thin as possible — otherwise the crust can remain firm and unyielding, even after it is soaked in the custard.
Once I’ve gathered the basic ingredients, I hunt through the vegetable drawer to find a winning mix of flavors. In spring, I might pair asparagus, lightly steamed, with Fontina cheese. In summer, tomato, zucchini and yellow squash come together with ricotta. But in these cold, early dark days, I combine kale and butternut squash. The balance of vegetal, slightly bitter greens and sweet, tender winter squash is not only delicious, it’s also pretty. Add a nuttytasting Gruyere or Jarlsberg cheese, and the combination becomes especially rich and satisfying.
The custard, a combination of eggs, milk and cream (or half-and-half, which, after all, is half milk and half cream) works its magic, soaking into the bread during a slow refrigerated rest before baking. Classically, quiches and other custard dishes are cooked straight away, but a strata needs time for the bread and eggy liquid to get to know each other.
The required rest period means I often toss together a strata after dinner or even while making breakfast. I’ll combine leftover vegetables, shredded chicken or the last of the breakfast bacon. Whisking the eggs and shredding the cheese might add a few minutes to my morning routine, but a strata will be ready to go into the oven at the end of the day and I can spend the hour or so it’s in the oven doing something else entirely.
Best of all, once that strata emerges from the oven, it gives you reason to feel heroic because it puffs up so dramatically. The look is sensational but fleeting, so get your people to the table to ooh and ahh, and then dig in.
SAUSAGE, KALE AND SQUASH STRATA
Servings: 12
You’ll need a 3-quart ovenproof casserole dish, such as a 9-by-13-inch pan.
MAKE AHEAD: Strata improves when there is plenty of time for the bread to soak up the custard. Make this up to 12 hours ahead of baking. The strata will emerge from the oven puffed and gorgeous, then deflate. It can be served piping hot or at room temperature.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chicken-apple sausage links
2 cups peeled butternut squash, cubed or sliced (about 8 ounces; see headnote)
2 cups frozen kale, defrosted and squeezed dry (about 4 ounces; see headnote)
¾ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
½ teaspoon dry (rubbed) sage
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 6 large eggs, plus 3 large egg yolks 4 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup chopped chives
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
One 12-to-14-ounce brioche loaf, thickly sliced (see headnote)
About 6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (1 ½ cups)
Hot sauce, for serving
Line a plate with paper towels. Heat half the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the sausage links; cook for about 7 minutes, turning frequently, until browned and warmed through. Transfer to the plate to drain.
Wipe out the pan and return it to medium heat. Pour in the remaining oil; once it shimmers, add the squash and cook for about 8 minutes until softened, then stir in the kale, ¼ cup of the parsley, sage, salt and pepper. Cook until heated through, remove from the heat.
Slice the sausages into thick coins, then stir them into the squash-and-kale mixture.
Whisk the eggs and yolks in a large mixing bowl until well blended. Pinch off pieces of the cream cheese, whisking them into the eggs as you work. The mixture will not be smooth. Whisk in the milk, cream, honey, mustard, chives and the remaining ½ cup of parsley.
Use the butter to grease the casserole dish. Beginning and ending with the sliced brioche, build the strata layers as follows: bread, sausage mixture and scatterings of grated Gruyere, reserving enough cheese for the top of the strata. Depending on the size and shape of the dish, there may be two or three layers.
Gradually pour the egg mixture over the layers. If the top layer is not covered, press it down gently until just submerged. Lightly cover the surface with the remaining grated Gruyere. Use cooking oil spray to grease the underside of the aluminum foil you will use to cover the strata, then crimp it tightly around the edges. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and up to 12 hours before baking.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Meanwhile, place the strata on the counter so it will come to room temperature (or close to it). Do not remove the foil.
Bake (middle rack) for about 1 hour; carefully uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the strata is puffy, slightly jiggly in the center and browned on the surface.
Serve right away, with hot sauce. Nutritional information per serving: 410 calories, 19 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates, 27 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 240 mg cholesterol, 590 mg sodium, 1 g dietary fiber, 12 g sugar