I fell in love with this vegetable strata at first bite!
With each bite of this vegetable strata you get a savory mouthful of spinach, gooey cheese, and cubes of deliciously rich bread baked in a creamy custard.
What is a strata?
A strata is a savory bread pudding that consists of bread, eggs, and cheese. Vegetables and/or meat can also be added. Strata is usually a casserole served for breakfast or brunch, but also can be served for dinner.
When to serve vegetable strata
I love the fact that this strata can be so versatile. I made this vegetarian recipe on Sunday to serve as a Meatless Monday dinner for David and me. We love breakfast for dinner and it was nice coming home to dinner already made. All I had to do was put it in the oven and bake. This was a pretty good way to start off another work week.
This tasty breakfast recipe can easily be doubled as a great make-ahead recipe for when you have overnight guests. You can do all of the prep the day before and then pop it in the oven in the morning for an effortless brunch.
Serve the casserole with sausage or bacon and wash it down with a Peanut Butter and Jelly Martini.
To feed more than 4, click the serving number on the recipe card below and drag the slider to adjust the serving size to fit your needs.
About The Bread For The Vegetable Strata
This recipe is a good way to eat up bread before going stale. I’ve discovered that most grocery stores that have a bakery have a rack with marked down bread. Keep an eye on them and snag a loaf of bread. Store the bread in the freezer until needed and then defrost. This saves you money on otherwise pricey bread.
About Gruyère Cheese Used For The Vegetable Strata
Gruyère cheese is the best! Of course, it stinks to high heaven, but the taste is unbelievable. Gruyère cheese is considered to be one of the finest Swiss cheeses, with a nutty yet salty when it is new, but the taste varies with age. This is why it tends to be expensive.
I usually buy Gruyère cheese from a wholesale club along with other cheeses such as parmesan. I highly recommend Gruyère cheese, but if you cannot find it you can substitute it with Beaufort, Comte, Swiss or Jarlsberg.
Try this recipe and enjoy every delicious mouthful!
If you do, we’d love to hear about it. Leave your comment below!
Vegetable Strata
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup celery diced
- 1 cup onions diced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 10 ounce frozen spinach thawed
- 3 cups Italian loaf cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 ½ cups Gruyere cheese grated, divided
Instructions
- Grease a 2 quart baking dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth and beat in milk.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, thyme and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook the vegetables,stirring often, until they begin to soften; about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, squeeze out all excess moisture from spinach. When the vegetables are tender, stir the spinach and heat through. Turn off the heat.
- Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes and add to bowl with eggs and milk. Toss the bread until bread is well coated with the egg mixture.
- Gently stir the vegetables and 1 cup of the cheese into the coated bread. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Transfer the bread and vegetable mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of cheese on top of the strata.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Uncover the strata and bake until eggs have set; about 30 to 35 minutes.
- Allow the strata to cool about 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve warm.
Millican Pecan says
Boy, this looks good. I like your meatless Mondays…what a great reminder of how many wonderful ways there are to cook main dishes without meat! I love when spinach is in a main dish, it makes it seem healthier with the added green! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
The Mountain Kitchen says
I hope you’ll try this recipe. Thank you!
Mona T says
I made this back in September, and I was a little generous with the bread, so it came out a little dry, but that was my fault. It was really good, anyway. I’m making it again on Sunday, and I’ll be more careful with my measurements!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Hi Mona! We all learn from our mistakes. I’m glad you like this recipe and I hope Sunday’s is the best yet! Thanks for your review and feedback. We appreciate it! 🙂
Cynthia says
You’re right about the cheese! Yum! The only thing I did different is used fresh spinach and replaced the celery with red bell pepper. My mom’s recipe always had meat. I like this much better. Thank you