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Green Strata With Goat Cheese and Herbs
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- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus at least 4 hours’ chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2cups whole milk
- ½cup heavy cream
- 5ounces baby braising greens, such as kale, mustard greens, chard or a mix (about 5 cups)
- ¾cup mixed soft herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, dill, mint or chives
- ¼cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
- Black pepper, as needed
- 12large eggs
- 1pound day-old brioche or white bread, cut into 2-inch cubes (about 6 cups)
- 6ounces cold goat cheese, sliced into ¼-inch-thick rounds
- Aleppo or Turkish pepper, for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium pot, bring milk and cream to a simmer.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, place greens, herbs, cheese, salt and pepper in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Once the hot milk mixture comes to a simmer, pour over greens and purée until smooth. Pour into a bowl and let cool completely. Once cool, whisk in 6 eggs.
- Step 3
Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Scatter bread cubes over bottom of pan. Pour custard over bread and press down so the bread absorbs the custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. If you can, stir bread cubes after an hour or so to encourage an even distribution of custard.
- Step 4
When you are ready to bake the strata, heat oven to 350 degrees. Tuck the goat cheese rounds into and on top of the strata. Transfer pan to oven and bake until top is beginning to firm up but is still slightly wet underneath, about 25 minutes.
- Step 5
Remove pan from oven and use a spoon to make 6 evenly spaced indentations on the surface of the strata. Crack an egg into each hole and season with salt and pepper. Return pan to oven and continue to bake until strata is cooked through and eggs are just set, 20 to 25 minutes more. Sprinkle with Aleppo or Turkish pepper if desired.
- This rich, custardy dish needs an incisive wine to cut through its eggy, creamy amplitude. Sauvignon blanc, the historical regional partner for goat cheese in all its forms, comes immediately to mind. I don’t believe that regional pairings are automatically good, but this one is tried and true over generations. Racy, refreshing, herbal Loire sauvignon blancs will work beautifully, from Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé or their less-expensive satellite regions, like Quincy, Menetou-Salon and Reuilly. And sauvignon blanc is truly an international grape, grown on every continent that makes wine. It can be excellent from northeastern Italy, and New Zealand made its reputation with pungent, zesty versions. California’s sauvignon blancs can be very good, though often a little richer, and don’t write off bottles from South Africa and South America. ERIC ASIMOV
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
The steps as written made no sense to me. I cooked down the greens in a little water, then blitzed them with the herbs and one cup of milk. Then whisked in the eggs and the rest of the milk, cream, and cheese. Threw in the bread and let it all soak in the fridge for a couple of hours, mixing occasionally. Pressed it into a pan, covered with plastic wrap, and weighted with some cans. Came out great, not bready or lumpy. The pressing technique I learned from America's Test Kitchen.
What a mess. I put the greens and hot milk into my Cuisinart 11 cup food processor and hit the pulse button. Hot milk and green bits down the side and onto the counter. I've transferred it all over into my blender but meanwhile my kitchen is a disaster with milk and green bits everywhere, not to mention that it wasn't a joy playing around in hot milk.
Use a blender.
Looks like green baby food. Why puree at all? poach veggies as needed in milk/cream, drain, chop/scissor roughly, lay over bread base. Proceed with rest of Step 2..
Yes, the processor was slightly messy but doable (I have a 14 cup Kitchen Aid), and yes, it took about 30 rather than 20 minutes to bake the eggs at the end. I used about 3/4 of a 24 oz. loaf of Brioche, 6 cups of a 16 oz. "Zen Blend" pre-washed package of baby greens; kale, collards, chard, spinach, tatsoi, mustard, mizuna, pak-choi and komatsuna. I also used 8 instead of 6 oz of goat cheese. A delicious and beautiful 5* success for an annual 8 woman beach retreat, most of which I made ahead.
I read most of the notes and opted for my blender instead of the food processor. It was a disaster. Mixture all over everything. Worked fine in my food processor. Either way, you really can't incorporate all of the milk and cream at once. Experience should have reminded me of that.
I made this with leftover collards (southern style), and slightly stale grocery store whole wheat potato bread that had a soft crust. Managed to get the eggs just right for a lightly thick runny sauce. Next time I would use the ricotta to hold its consistency better than the goat cheese did. But the flavor was delicious and worth making again.
I wouldn't let it cool too much before serving or the egg yolks will be too gelatinous rather than saucy.
I prepared this for a family that claims to be disinterested in egg dishes. The cheese combined with the pepper made all the difference. One time I used goat cheese, another, a local variant. We've served both rose and sancerre with this dish, and although the sancerre tasted great, so did the a dry, Washington State Rosy!
Yummy! I dispensed with heating and cooling the milk, which seemed time-consuming and messy. I blitzed the greens in the food processor. Then I whisked the eggs in a bowl, added cold milk, and then the green paste. Poured that mixture over the bread. Not sure what I missed by not wilting the greens with scalding milk, but this worked fine.
The whole family liked this, including a 4-year-old who doesn't particularly like eggs or 'green things'. I agree that a blender would work better. I used baby kale, parsley and dill because that's what I had, but would go with spinach next time. I did 20 minutes for the eggs, and that was set enough to serve but then break and enjoy the runny yolks.
Fantastic! After reading others’ comments on the puréed milk/greens, I tried a different technique that worked well. I heated the milk in a *large* pot, then tossed the greens in there to wilt, and then puréed (still in the pot) with my immersion blender. Worked like charm without a mess (and dirtied fewer dishes).
I added 2 minced garlic to the processor which made it taste like pesto. Really delicious, but would like to try w/o my lil addition. Also cracked just 2 eggs at one end for hubby and my dinner. I plan to cook fresh eggs, probably over-med, to go w/ the bread pudding left overs. W/o eggs is just as delightful.
This is always devoured quickly, a perfect brunch dish. Use challah bread, if you can find it.
I read the previous notes and just wizzed the greens in the processor, put them in a bowl, covered them with the hot milk and let it cool... otherwise, as written... great great great cabin food!
My sisters made this for Fathers Day brunch and interpreted "soft herbs" to mean dried herbs. I'm not sure how alarm bells didn't go off in their heads at the thought of adding 3/4 cup of dried herbs, but it actually still tasted pretty good! So if you're worried about messing this up, you can't do much worse than us, and it'll probably still be ok.
good-morning every one , this fantastic dish you can give , just a little , phphiifftt up in the air by adding some rich tasted (little strong) world famous Danish Cheese . You can add any danish taste full cheese together with the goat cheese as well , - good luck go with care alain , copenhagen
I sautéed the greens in a little oil, added the cheese, scattered onto of the bread, then added the egg mixture over the top. Perfect and easy, I am sure just as delicious as described in the more complicated original.
No need to purée the greens and make a mess. Chopped them finely and simmered them in the cream/milk until soft.
Fantastic! After reading others’ comments on the puréed milk/greens, I tried a different technique that worked well. I heated the milk in a *large* pot, then tossed the greens in there to wilt, and then puréed (still in the pot) with my immersion blender. Worked like charm without a mess (and dirtied fewer dishes).
I have to say, this was the first thing I have cooked in a long, long time that was nearly inedible. But the dog liked it so that was something.
This was pretty good right out of the oven. Not so good as leftovers (Very green…). I prefer a more classic breakfast casserole. Don’t plan on making again as I just didn’t love it.
We love this recipe for Easter brunch! As an alternative to a food processor or blender, put the milk/greens mixture in a deep soup pot and blitz with an immersion blender.
Use the dang blender
Made this with some slight mods based on what I had on hand and it was great! I cooked down the greens in some olive oil with garlic, green onions (didn’t have any soft herbs) and then blended that mixture with the milk and cream (didn’t warm those) and it was totally fine. Also cut the recipe in half and used Gruyere instead of goat cheese. Will definitely make this again!
Don't put all of the milk mixture in with the greens - only need enough to "lubricate" it, then pour pureed mixture into bowl and add rest of the milk, stir and let cool.
After reading the reviews, I opted to skip the warming of milks and just blended the greens in a blender. I didn’t think blending was a messy process. I also added jalapeño and sautéed onion to the bake. It turned out nicely.
I love how vibrant this dish is! Next time I would probably cook the eggs on the stove top and then add one runny egg to each serving. When I baked them on top, the yolks were overcooked, but the whites were still jiggly. I also used a blender for the milk and the greens, which made it an evenly smooth consistency. Lovely dish for Mother's Day!
Delicious! Used spinach, dill, chives, and a little parsley. Not quick and easy, but worth the trouble. Served it for Easter brunch.
This is a great way to use up greens and old bread but I'd leave the mint out. I used what I had wilting in my fridge for herbs - mint, parsley, tarragon, mint and dill. Next time I will leave out the tarragon and mint and go with oregano, basil, thyme and lots of parsley. I also think I'll go with the chopped or scissoring idea in the notes below. I used chard, spinach and some radish greens.
Take care that in Step 2 you don't add the goat cheese, just the parmesan. I didn't read closely enough and missed out on the goat cheese rounds. Not my favorite strata ever but still quite enjoyable and nice that it at least feels a bit healthier to have so many greens in it.
Really tasty! Didn’t have a blender/food processor so just mixed chopped greens/herbs/cheese right into the hot milk and continued on with the recipe from there
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