Breakfast Strata with Spinach and Gruyere

By á-160034

From Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

• 16-20 (1/2 inch thick) slices supermarket French bread
• 8 1/2 Tb unsalted butter, softened
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 (10-oz) pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• Salt
• Ground pepper
• 1 C medium-dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
• 12 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
• 12 large eggs
• 3 1/2 C half-and-half

Preparation

Step 1

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 225*. Arrange the bread in a single layer on a large baking sheet and bake until dry and crisp, about 40 minutes, turning over the slices halfway through the drying time. When cooled, butter the slices on one side with 4 Tb of the butter; set aside.
2. Heat 3 Tb butter in a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion until fragrant and translucent, about 3 minutes; add spinach and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach and onion are combined, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside. Add the wine to the skillet, increase the heat to medium-high and simmer until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes, set aside.
3. Butter 13x9 baking dish with remaining 1 ½ T butter and arrange half the bread slices, buttered-side up, in a single layer in the dish. Sprinkle half of the spinach mixture, then 1 1/3 C of the cheese evenly over the bread slices.
Arrange the remaining bread slices in a single layer over the cheese; sprinkle the remaining spinach mixture and another 1 1/3 C cheese evenly over the bread.
4. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until blended; whisk in the reduced wine, half-and-half, 1 tsp salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the bread layers; cover the surface flush with plastic wrap, weigh it down and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
5. Remove the dish from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325*. Uncover the strata and sprinkle the remaining 1 1/3 C cheese evenly over the surface; bake until both the edges and the center are puffed and the edges have pulled away slightly from the sides of the dish, about 60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.

**I weigh it down with boxes of brown sugar or bags of rice or beans. That pushes the bread down into the egg mixture.