Quiche, frittata, omelets and other egg dishes are popular around Easter, but Patricia Heaton, star of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The Middle,” often prefers this strata, which is like a frittata or crustless quiche but with bread in the egg filling.
The recipe comes from her debut cookbook, "Patricia Heaton's Food for Family and Friends: 100 Favorite Recipes for a Busy, Happy Life" (William Morrow, $29.99) that includes plenty of weekday-friendly casseroles, sides dishes, desserts and breakfasts. She shares comfort foods you'd recognize, such as sheet pan nachos, apricot-glazed pork cutlets and meatballs, alongside modern treats, including a polenta, pine nut and rosemary olive oil cake, apple pie muffins and lemon-glazed blueberry doughnuts.
For this brunch dish, Heaton recommends prepping the casserole the night before you plan to bake it, but if you’re searching for a last-minute Easter casserole, you can soak it for as few as three hours before popping into the oven. You could use fresh spinach, but you’ll need quite a lot of it. Pan-fry the spinach for about two minutes until it wilts and then press out the water in a colander.
Spinach and Cheese Strata
When I was growing up, quiche was all the rage, but more recently a quiche-like dish called strata has become popular. Combining cheese, spinach and eggs, this strata has the elements of a quiche Florentine, but instead of the filling baking in a pie crust, bites of ciabatta bread are incorporated right into the mixture. The strata is a very flexible dish, so feel free to experiment, adding sliced mushrooms, sliced cooked sausage, leftover roasted vegetables or different types of cheese.
— Patricia Heaton
Butter or cooking spray, for the pan
3 cups frozen chopped spinach, about 1 1/2 (10-ounce) packages
8 thick-cut slices ciabatta bread, preferably day old, torn into bite-size pieces
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
6 large eggs
3 cups (2 percent or whole) milk
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch-by-13-inch pan. In a microwave-safe bowl, cook the spinach on high 2 to 3 minutes, until fully thawed. Let cool for a minute, then squeeze the spinach to drain as much water from it as possible.
Arrange half of the bread in the prepared pan. Scatter half of the spinach and cheeses on top. Repeat with the remaining bread, spinach and cheeses.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt and nutmeg and season with pepper. Beat with a whisk or fork until well mixed. Pour over the spinach-cheese mixture. Use a rubber spatula to press the bread down, helping it to soak up the milk mixture. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight or at least three hours.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the strata, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 30 minutes more, until golden and puffy (it will deflate a few minutes after removing from the oven). Serve hot. Serves 8 to 10.
— From "Patricia Heaton's Food for Family and Friends: 100 Favorite Recipes for a Busy, Happy Life" by Patricia Heaton (William Morrow, $29.99)
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