Are your Thanksgiving guests still lingering? Maybe if you feed them a hearty breakfast and tell them the leftovers are all gone, they'll get the fuck out. Regardless, this recipe is an excellent morning-time use of leftover stuffing. Strata is Latin for "breakfast casserole." You can use either term, depending on the level of pretense you like to serve with your food. I like to go for the maximum, especially when it's a dish as simple to prepare as this one.
This one doesn't have any meat, but you may include leftover turkey or any kind of breakfast meat you like (and maybe your leftover stuffing has some kind of meat in it). If you had a ham on Thanksgiving, throw in a handful of ham cubes. If you want sausage or bacon in it, cook them first in a skillet and drain the fat.
You can put this together in the evening and bake it in the morning. Just remember to take it out of the fridge for a little while before you put it in the hot oven. Also remember to remove the plastic wrap before putting it in the oven.
Stuffing Strata
2 cups or so of leftover stuffing
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
Enough grated cheese to cover the casserole plus a little more (any good melting cheese will do; Swiss is a popular choice, but today we've got cheddar and a stick of string cheese)
Butter a casserole dish.
Beat the eggs and milk together, with a little salt and pepper.
Put the stuffing in the casserole in big chunks. Mix in the "plus a little more" of cheese.
Pour the egg and milk mixture over the stuffing. Let the stuffing soak up all that good stuff for a few minutes. Alternatively, if you're preparing this the night before, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the casserole.
Bake in a 375 oven for about 40 minutes, until the filling is firmly set.
Enjoy with a Bloody Mary.
I drive my guests away Thursday afternoon by explaining how kids and lawns should not mix.
This strata does not seem overly burdensome to make.