Wendell's Sausage and Spinach Strata

Since I already got sidetracked from blogging about Hokkaido, I wanted to post this recipe before it got lost in my black hole of lost recipes. 

Wendell made this for breakfast yesterday. I had gone out before 8 am to check out the Niu Valley Neighborhood Garage Sales, and by the time I got home at around 9:30, only remnants of his dish remained. 

It smelled wonderful. I took a quick bite. It was hell-a good!!

Wendell loosely followed the recipe from 24Life here. When I say "loosely" I mean VERY loosely.  It's supposed to be a vegetarian dish, but Wendell is the opposite of being a vegetarian, so instead of meatless crumbles he used pork sausage. Then, instead of bread cubes he used Country Ranch croutons. And instead of 9 eggs he used 6. Instead of frozen spinach he used fresh. The amounts of all the ingredients were cut down, so he ended up using an 8 x 8-inch pan and not the 9 x 13-inch that the recipe called for. 

Vegetarian “Sausage” and Spinach Strata

SERVES: 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 12 ounces frozen meatless crumbles
• 16 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and pressed to remove excess water
• 9 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2¾ cups milk of choice
• 2½ cups (7.5 ounces) shredded cheese like Gruyere, Swiss, cheddar and/or mozzarella
• 1 cup (2 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
• 8 ounces hearty bread (like sourdough) sliced into ½- to ¾-inch cubes (about 8 cups)

DIRECTIONS

Note: This strata can be baked immediately or refrigerated up to overnight. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 350 F.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper and cook onions until they begin to soften, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in meatless crumbles and spinach and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, mustard, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper until incorporated. Add milk and whisk again until combined.

Lightly grease a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish and combine both shredded cheeses in a medium bowl.

Spread ⅓ of bread cubes in bottom of baking dish. Next, add ⅓ of spinach mixture and sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat twice more, adding remaining 1½ cups shredded cheese to the top layer.

Pour egg mixture over strata. If you are not baking strata immediately, cover it with aluminum foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 F. Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown. If the top starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil again until done baking. Allow strata to set for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.