Strata

I can see you now looking at this and wondering what a strata is. To me strata is a fancy name fore bread pudding. And when i mean bread pudding i don't mean the usual sweet one found on buffets served with a cinnamon sugar sauce. I have been talking about making one for a while and i finally had a reason too. I had received my first plate in the mail and had to use mint in the recipe. I decided to make one with asparagus, mushrooms, Swiss cheese and of course mint. I had some left over Texas toast, so i tore that up and left out to dry. I sliced up the mushrooms, chopped the asparagus and sauteed fork tender, adding the mint last as to not diminish the flavor of this delicate herb. I then put the filling on a plate to cool. I then began to make my custard of milk and eggs. For every egg, i used 1 cup of milk. For the amount i had, i did 4 eggs and 4 cups of milk. whisk this together, add a pinch of salt and pepper. I then took the torn dry Texas toast, put it in a bowl. Add your room temp veggies. Add your egg and milk mixture and mix together using your hands. Place in a baking pan. I placed in pre-heated oven of 350 degrees covered with foil for 10 minutes, removed foil and drop temp to 300 degrees for another 30-40 minutes. You want to be able to put a toothpick in and have it come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. During this cooling time, i warmed the bacon marmalade, I also added a little Vermont Maple Syrup. I turned the burner down and set aside. I cut out a square, placed on the plate and poured the bacon marmalade over top, it slowly creeping down the strata like slow moving lava. It looks as good as it tastes people.....Check it out here and here: