Well after reading a slew of recipes and not finding one I liked, I did what I normally do with recipes, I made my own. It was for a neighborhood Christmas Party, a brunch of sorts and I would be just one of many, but I couldn't let mine be just another casserole. My mind went back to the first time I remembered eating a breakfast 'strata or stratta' (layers) was 40+ years ago, and it is not a good memory. It was cold in some places and overcooked in others. I had never heard of a 'strata'at that time, norI had I ever thought I would be making one. I have since tasted some that are fine, and in fairness, in the truest sense of the word, lasagnas, frittatas and even some quiches are stratas (stratum), since they are layered baked dishes. As my wife pointed out, casseroles are meant to make feeding many easier, but that was not in the cards for me. It had to be good first, use ingredients I had on hand second, and lastly, be breakfast-like. I am going to present this dish, it's ingredients, and it's instructions in the the order the layers went into the pan and what I did to prepare each layer. The good thing is, I now know what I did right and what I should have done differently. As a PLUS, my wife said mine was by far the best tasting of any of those she tasted! I couldn't agree more and I tried many of them. For details, click below
—Biscuit Layer: I decided I wanted something of a crust, so I went with biscuits, since one of my favorite breakfast foods is biscuits and gravy. I started with a refrigerated can of biscuits, (you could use your own recipe but since my wife doesn't usually think I should to bake breads, so this was as close as I could get). I used the Flaky Jumbo Biscuits like the Pillsbury Grands and baked them per package instructions, with just a bit of extra time to make sure they were crisp, since they were the base of this dish. (That said, if I did this again, I would shape the biscuits so the cover the bottom, making it more crust like, and then bake it). I halved the 8 biscuits when they cooled and layered them into the bottom of the aluminum pan.
—Next is the potato layer: I decided the best way to fill in the biscuit layer would be to use mashed potatoes. But I couldn't just hide the potatoes on the bottom, I needed more. I chose to use a package of Idahoan 4 cheese mashed potatoes, which makes 2 cups. But I substituted milk for half of the liquid, to bring out the cheese component. I then added defrosted frozen spinach, drained) to the mashed potatoes, seasoning with salt and pepper. I added about half of the 10 oz. package. I covered the biscuits with this mashed mixture, spreading it over the biscuit layer forming a fairly even layer. Next, I wanted to add more cheese flavor into this layer and not simply coat the top with cheese, so I shredded Gruyère and Cheddar and combined them well. I used half (about 1 cup, saving 1 cup for later) to cover the mashed potatoes. Now for. texture...
I had some peeled, new potatoes which I roasted for a few minutes, 10 or so, in the oven then diced them and pan toasted the to give them crispy edges. I then press the potato dice into the shredded cheese in preparation for the next layer. You may have noticed, that all of the layers have been cooked as I go. That is by design. As I said my first experience was with a completely under cooked strata, so basically, I will only be melting cheese and finishing the eggs when all is said and done. Every layer will be cooked.
—The Smoked Sausage: Breakfast Sausage is a traditional component, so I thought I would kick it up a notch with some Applewood Smoked Sausage from McCormick. They have several flavors, but I chose the mildest to accommodate a variety of tastes.
I cut the sausages in half lengthwise, then into a large dice, about 3/4 to 1 inch. I then sautéed the chunks to render some of the fat and get the edges crispy. Drain on paper towel. I topped the potatoes with the sausage and moved on to the next layer.
—Peppered Gravy Layer: You probably are telling yourself that gravy is easy, but it is even easier when you have a tried and true mix on hand, which I did and which I used. To the gravy mix, I added some freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt. I spread the prepared gravy over the top of the sausage layer. We are in the home stretch here now. The final and most difficult layer to get right is the next layer...
—The Egg Layer: For this, I needed some extra flavor. This is the icing on the cake and bad icing makes for a bad cake. It is also one of the most difficult layers to cook correctly. For this, I scrambled 10 eggs with a splash of milk, salt & fresh cracked pepper. I swhip it all together with a fork, then I added orange and red mini bell peppers, scallions and big chunks of cooked bacon. When the scramble was ready, I added it to a non-stick pan and gently cooked it, just until there were curds. Then I turned it off and added it to the layers. I had been heating the other layers in the oven while I prepared the eggs. I topped the warm layers with the gently cooked the eggs and cooked them whole shebang 10 minutes at 350℉, removed the pan from the oven, topped with my homemade panko breadcrumbs, and the remaining cheese and placed the casserole in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Here is the finished, baked strata in the pan and on the plate. It was great. There were even leftovers, which I am sure you will be seeing in some recipe soon! As an aside. I could easily have fixed 12 sausage/egg/hash-brown breakfasts faster and for less, and for next time there will be changes...if there is a next time!
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