Ham and Cheese Strata

I thought I'd attempt my first strata since I've been drooling over pictures of them for the past couple weeks. I'm for sure making more of them! Prep the night before and cook it in the morning for an easy breakfast or brunch. And what doesn't go better with eggs than ham, cheese, and bread? Then throw in a little onion for flavor and spinach for color. I basically followed America's Test Kitchen's method with ingredients that I had on hand. And I might add, that it's so nice that I can still have fresh spinach from my garden this late in the season here. But frozen spinach will do fine as well, just be sure to drain and squeeze all the liquid from it before you add any. 

Ham and Cheese Strata

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen's Breakfast Strata

One 8x8 pan

Ingredients

10, 1/2 inch thick slices French bread or other artisan/Italian bread 

Unsalted Butter

1/4 medium onion sliced

7 oz ham diced 

4 oz cheddar cheese grated

2 oz mozzarella cheese grated

1 1/2- 2 cups sliced fresh baby spinach

6 lg eggs

1 3/4 cup whole milk or half and half

1 Tbs Dijon mustard

Directions

With oven rack in middle position, preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Place bread on on large baking sheet and bake until dry and crisp. About 40 minutes flipping halfway through. 

Remove from oven and spread a bit of butter on one side of each piece when they've cooled.  

**While the bread is baking**spray a nonstick pan generously with Cooking spray and heat over medium/low heat. 

Add onions and a few good shakes of salt, stir often until they become caramelized, about 30 minutes. You don't want them to brown. Low and slow.

Add spinach to the pan, allow to wilt and lose most of its moisture. Only a 3-4 minutes here, if you used frozen spinach it may take a bit longer, but not much. Remove from heat. 

Whisk together eggs, half and half, and mustard in small bowl, set aside. 

Butter a 8x8 glass baking dish

Lay one layer of bread onto the bottom of the dish, followed by half the onions and spinach, half the ham, and half of the cheeses. Repeat with remaining ingredients. 

Slowly pour egg mixture over the bread layers to evenly coat. 

Cover with plastic wrap and weigh the strata down with 2 lbs of evenly distributed pressure. I used a bag full of 2 lbs of rice. 

Place In fridge at least 1 hr and up to 24 hrs. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and while its preheating remove the dish from the fridge and allow to sit at room temp for 20 min before putting in the oven. 

Remove the weight and plastic wrap. 

Bake for 50-60 minutes until the edges AND center have puffed and the edges seem to have pulled away slightly from the edges.

Cool on a wire rack for 10 minute. And serve. This thing stays piping hot for a while, careful not to burn your tongue!