Sausage & Red Pepper Strata

 

I have mixed feelings about 11 a.m. football kickoffs. I love them for road games -- for obvious reasons. For home games, they're a little early for me to be up and at 'em preparing tailgate food and packing the car -- but I absolutely love a good breakfast tailgate. Breakfast tailgate may be my favorite meal ever. This morning we feasted on such treats as cinnamon roll cake, hot cider, baked egg cups, coffee cake, mixed berries, and one of my all-time favorite breakfast dishes: sausage & red pepper strata.

I recently bought a new recipe book, because I think one periodically needs to do such things to stay organized and to remember what's good to cook. I'm using it as a chance to be VERY discriminating about what gets included: I'm only keeping recipes I absolutely love. And the way it is organized -- into breakfast, lunch, and dinner , which at first I wasn't sure about -- has been a helpful way for me to think about meal preparation. Now if I can just figure out what to do with all my dessert recipes.

The sausage & red pepper strata was the first recipe I entered into the breakfast section, because I have to say it is simply perfect and needs no tweaking. If you are a vegetarian, though, I wouldn't hesitate to swap out the sausage for some sliced, sauteed mushrooms. In fact, I've been wanting to try such a version myself. But this morning's crowd was meat-friendly, so here's how I made it:

SAUSAGE & RED PEPPER STRATA

6 large eggs
2 1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. grated romano
2 T. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sliced green onions
1 lb. Italian sausage (I just use the Johnsonville mild or sweet)
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. loaf French or Italian bread (If you're in the Des Moines area, I highly recommend using South Union Italian baguette)
1 c. loosely packed feta cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9x2 baking dish and set aside. Whisk eggs, milk, cream, romano, oregano, salt, and green onions in a large bowl and set aside.

Place sausage and chopped red pepper on opposite sides of a skillet and saute over high heat until sausage is cooked through. 

Arrange half the bread slices in the prepared dish. Pour half the egg mixture and half the sausage and red pepper over; sprinkle with feta. Repeat process with a second layer.

Let stand at least 20 minutes, pressing down on top to submerge bread. (I often make this dish the night before and let it spend the night in the fridge before baking in the morning -- it works just great.)

Bake until puffed and brown, appx. 1 hour.

Our reviews of the game were not very positive (the good guys lost to No. 12 Oklahoma, 35-20), but the reviews of the tailgate were. It was a nice November morning to spend in the parking lot eating and drinking with wonderful people like my friend, Sarah.

Cheers to tailgating!