Spinach Recipe No. 1: Strata

If you follow my blog on Facebook, you know I recently received a ton of spinach from the last two CSA boxes. I went back and forth with recipes and ideas, trying to figure out what to do with all of it. I finally settled on separate dishes. Here's the first of the two.

Spinach, Mushroom and Green Onion Strata with Swiss Cheese

I originally thought of doing a quiche, then wanted to go with a lighter dish with a frittata. But then, remembering to the leftover Italian bread from Sciortino's bakery. So I settled on a strata, which is similar to a frittata, but on top of and soaked into bread. What's great about a strata is that you can pretty much put in it whatever you want and make it up as you go -- which is exactly what I did.

I apologize for my lack of exact measurements, but it'd be hard to screw up this dish, no matter what you do!

• Enough slices of French or Italian bread to cover the bottom of your baking dish (I used a 9x9 dish)
• about 2 cups packed spinach and arugula, chopped 
• about 1.5 cups mushrooms, chopped
• bunch of green onions, sliced
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup milk (I used 2% to make it a little creamier) 
• about 2 Tbs. sundried tomato spread (not all that necessary, but if you have a bit in the fridge like I did, it's a good way to use it up!)
• about 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• about 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• spices: salt, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika
• a dollop of olive oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat bottom of 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Line bottom of dish with bread and top bread with sundried tomato spread.

Saute spinach and arugula until it wilts with a bit of water and a few shakes of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add mushrooms and green onions with a bit of olive oil, cooking until soft.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk and a few shakes of all spices.

Spread the vegetable mixture on top of the bread. Cover with Swiss cheese. Pour egg mixture on top. Finally, top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes, or until knife inserted into middle comes out clean.

Like most of the food we eat, we topped the strata with a bit of hot sauce. Delicious!