Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Sweet & Savory Egg Strata for Brunch

Made a centerpiece dish today for my Tuesday women's brunch and Bible group. Butter a 13" X 9" Pyrex glass baking dish. Cut the crust off 12 slices of cinnamon raisin bread, and lightly butter the slices on both sides. Lay 6 slices in the dish, and sprinkle evenly over the bread with 8 oz grated Monterey jack cheese. Lay the other 6 slices over the cheese, and sprinkle again with another 8 oz grated Monterey jack cheese.

In a separate bowl, combine 4 cups whole milk with 8 large eggs, beaten. I then added 1 1/2 tspns dry mustard, 1 tspn nutmeg, 1 tspn salt and 2 generous shakes of white pepper. Pour the egg and milk mixture into the baking dish. Cover with foil, and refrigerate overnight. Bake in the morning at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. The result is a custard-like texture with subtle tastes of nutmeg, sweet raisins and delicious savory egg.

You can add more zest to this recipe by tucking sausage patties, crumbled bacon or frozen broccoli spears between the bread and cheese layers, or add Ortega chiles to the egg mixture for a Southwest touch.

The perfect brunch dish with fresh fruit and French Roast coffee.

Send emails to DeborahWhite@UniqueRecipes.com.

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