Sausage Strata

Notes

This dish is wonderful when made the night before. Just pop it in the oven in the morning.

You can prepare the bread (buttered or not) and filling up to three days in advance. Wrap bread tightly in plastic wrap and save filling in a bag or container in the refrigerator.

To double the recipe, use a 13 by 9 inch pan, and increase the baking time to about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Prepare bread

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225 degrees.
• Arrange bread in a single layer on large baking sheet and bake until dry and crisp, about 40 minutes, turning slices over halfway through drying time. (Alternatively, leave slices out overnight to dry.)
• When cooled, butter slices on one side with 2 tablespoons of the butter and set aside.

Prepare filling

• Fry sausage in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking sausage apart with wooden spoon, until it loses its raw color and begins to brown, about 4 minutes.
• Add shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and translucent, about 1 minute longer.
• Add mushrooms to skillet, and cook until mushrooms no longer release liquid, about 6 minutes.
• Transfer mixture to a medium bowl and season to taste with salt and more pepper than you think.
• Add wine to skillet, increase heat to medium-high, and simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.

Assemble

• Butter 8-inch square baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon butter.
• Arrange half of buttered bread slices, buttered-side up, in single layer in dish.
• Sprinkle half of sausage mixture, then 1/2 cup cheese evenly over bread slices.
• Repeat last two steps.
• Whisk eggs in medium bowl until combined; whisk in reduced wine, half-and-half, parsley, 1 tsp salt, and pepper to taste.
• Pour egg mixture evenly over bread layers; cover surface flush with plastic wrap.
• Weigh mixture down with a pair of one-pound sugar boxes or equivalent. It is especially effective to put the weights inside another equal-sized pan so the weight is evenly distributed over the strata.
• Refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Bake

• Remove dish from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature while heating oven to 325 degrees. Rack should still be in middle position.
• Uncover strata and sprinkle remaining cheese evenly over surface.
• Bake until both edges and center are puffed and edges have pulled away slightly from sides of dish, 50 to 55 minutes.
• cool on wire rack 5 minutes; serve

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