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Bacon, Cheddar, and Scallion Strata
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Recipe Filed Under
Egg, Cooking With Kids, Easy, Mother's Day

Provided By:
Kemp Minifie

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    • If you've never heard of a strata, relax. It's just another name for a savory bread pudding and it makes a very appealing brunch main dish because it can be put together a day in advance; in fact, you want to make it that far ahead so that the bread can absorb some of the custard. It's a particularly good pick for Mother's Day when Dad and the kids are looking for something easy to make because there aren't a lot of extra ingredients besides the bread and custard, just the powerhouse ones of bacon and Cheddar with some scallions added for sweetness as well as a welcome touch of spring green. Simple as it is, there's just enough of a challenge here in this recipe to provide some teaching moments for beginner kids, such as how to cut the bread -— serrated knife, please —- and how to whisk the eggs and milk (whisk the eggs first, then whisk in the milk).

    Ingredients

    Serves:

      • 1/4 pound sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch strips
      • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
      • 1 bunch scallions, sliced thin (1 1/2 cups)
      • 8 cups cubed crusty French or Italian bread
      • 8 ounces coarsely grated sharp Cheddar (2 1/2 cups)
      • 6 large eggs
      • 3 1/2 cups milk
      • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
      • 1 teaspoon salt

    Directions

    Cook bacon in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to a small bowl and pour off fat. Add butter to skillet and in it cook scallions, stirring, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes.

    Spread out half of bread in a buttered 13- by 9-inch baking dish and sprinkle with half of the cheese and half of bacon. Repeat layering again.

    Whisk eggs in a bowl, then whisk in milk, Worcestershire, and salt. Pour evenly over bread and cheese and chill, tightly covered, overnight.

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees and let strata stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Bake, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed, golden brown, and cooked through, about 50 minutes.

    Notes and Tips:
    Bacon is easiest to slice when it's cold. You can cook it a day ahead and keep the bacon chilled in an airtight container.

    For a bigger boost of bacon flavor, feel free to substitute bacon fat for all or part of the butter.

    Scallions can be sliced a day ahead and kept chilled in an airtight container.

    Cheddar can be grated a day ahead and kept chilled in an airtight container or, if you are short of time, substitute an equal weight of pre-grated cheese.

    Game Plan:

    Day Before:
    Slice and cook bacon.
    Slice and cook scallions.
    Cut bread and assemble strata in pan. Cover tightly and chill.
    Day of:
    Pull strata out of fridge 1/2 hour before baking so that it can come to room temperature.
    Allow at least 10, if not 15 minutes to preheat oven.
    Strata is best when warm but if it cools to room temperature it's still delicious.

    What do you think?

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    25 Comments

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    mrstommied3

    Considering how long this recipe has been on the site, why hasn't someone gone in and made the corrections for the missing instruction?

    December 25 2011 at 11:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    annenorvl

    add more bacon fat? NO already much too fatty and rich altho a little bacon would be okay.

    October 23 2011 at 11:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    khd428

    thius recipe was so good.Easy to make.So far my husband and I like oll tour recipe.I mad a lot of them.Keep up the good work Thanks

    October 22 2011 at 10:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    Tamar Weiss 77

    Sounds delicious but there is a lot of bread which could be fattening. What are the calories per serving and how many portions are in it? How many people does it feed?

    September 22 2011 at 4:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    Cristine

    Sounds like it could be good. I would double the bacon..as 1/4 lb..frys up to nothing for cassarole this big. Temp..is most likely 350. thinking pressed garlic in addition would be good, maybe a touch of chopped parsely too..just looks like it needs abit more creativity w/spices..to make it top notch.

    September 05 2011 at 4:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    janandrs5&rich

    The recipe doesn't tell where or when to add the scallions after cooking them.

    September 03 2011 at 5:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    hkile80

    Sounds great, but what temp. for oven ???

    September 03 2011 at 2:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    bobijoy

    I have a very similar delicious recipe (7-8 eggs, 3 c. milk, 1/2 lb cheddar,and one lb ham, etc.) Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. It also has one tsp. dry mustard and 1/4 lb melted sweet butter(poured over all ingredients) and one tsp salt (also 7 - 8 slices of cubed bread). Refrigerate overnight. Serves 8-10

    September 03 2011 at 12:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    lhepler704

    Aside from the oven temp...what are you supposed to do with the scallions after cooking them? Sprinkle them on each layer (not easy when they're cooked)? Mix them in with the egg mixture? I've read the recipe a dozen times thinking I must have missed it, but can't see it.

    August 23 2011 at 10:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
    karensbell

    I would also like to see the calorie per serving information on all the receipes on this site.

    Thanks!!

    July 15 2011 at 9:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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