Vegetable strata

This vegetable strata has delicious bursts of flavor from dried cherries, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. An easy prep either earlier or the night before, then bake and serve. Breakfast/brunch deliciousness!

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Breakfast is one of those meals that took me years to particularly like let alone get excited for. For most of my childhood and early adulthood I ate a slice of toast or a banana and little more. My mum would sometimes make a cooked breakfast (fry up) at the weekend, which I enjoyed, but would never really make myself.

Over time, I got myself into having yogurt, granola and fruit, which was a little more interesting. Then two places got me to actually try more variety - New York and Mexico.

In New York, a friend introduced me to a few places that served brunch, and I soon became a big fan of eggs Benedict and it's variations, as well as other sweet and savory options. Then in Mexico, I discovered the wonders of molletes, huevos rancheros and chilaquiles.

Now that I have kids of my own, I've made it a point to try to have a little variety in our breakfasts. True during the week I go quicker and easy, but at weekends we change things up with pancakes, French toast and more.

While the kids still have a bit of a sweet tooth, I do like savory options and this one is a great option. It's inspired by the breakfast strata I made previously that we loved. This one, though, is less about the bacon and instead packed with vegetables.

What is a strata?

A strata means "layers" and it's basically a savory bread pudding or baked French toast. Despite the Italian name, it's actually American in origin, and relatively recent.

The first known recipe dates from 1902 in the "Handbook of Household Science" and was for a cheese strata. It consisted of bread, white sauce and cheese. The real boost in popularity came in the 1980s when it appeared in another cookbook, and many variations have been created since.

While you don't have to, you can put it together the night before, leave to soak overnight then bake up in the morning. This makes stratas great for entertaining as you can get prepared ahead. They're also really easy to scale up or down to suit your numbers.

How to make this vegetable strata

This dish is really easy to prepare, even if it has a couple steps. Get things prepared first, by chopping up the vegetables and dicing the bread. Then you pre-cook the vegetables. This helps bring out the sweetness in the onion and give a lovely flavor to the mushrooms.

Whisk together the eggs and milk, grate the cheese then start layering up. Then either bake straight away, or leave it overnight to soak before baking in the morning.

The bread become soft in the middle with a slight crisp on the outside. There are such delicious bursts of flavor from the cherries, vegetables and gruyere and they all work so well together.

This vegetable strata is such a delicious combination, and perfect made ahead for a busy morning or to serve at a fancier brunch. It's easy to scale up for guests, or enjoy it as a smaller crowd any excuse you find. So be sure to give it a try and make breakfast/brunch that bit more varied.

Try these other prep-ahead breakfasts:

• Strawberry French toast bake (similar to this, you can make and refrigerate before baking)
• Swiss Bircher muesli (the original overnight oats made with apple)
• Eggnog cinnamon rolls (you can let them do their second rise in the fridge)
• Gingerbread waffles (they can be made ahead and reheated)

Plus get more breakfast and brunch recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

This post was originally shared in August 2017 and sponsored by Stoneridge Orchards - it works well with their Montmorency cherries. All opinions remain my own. It has been updated to adapt the recipe and update photos and text.

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