The Family Stone is one of the most polarizing Christmas movies that exists. It’s filled with horribly cringe-worthy-but-can’t-stop-watching scenes and over-the-top personalities that you either love or hate (I personally love the movie even if Sarah Jessica Parker’s character can drive me insane). But anyone who HAS watched it will remember the infamous scene with a strata – a breakfast casserole that gets knocked out of SJP’s hands, causing a total meltdown by her character in the movie. Watching this movie scene was my first ever encounter with strata, and despite knowing about this dish for years, I’ve never actually HAD a strata – until now.
Since I had a bunch of leftover ingredients from a Christmas Eve dinner I hosted with friends, I thought this American casserole dish would be the perfect way to repurpose my leftovers! You could also easily make this with Thanksgiving leftovers. A strata begins with stale bread – in my case I had 2 day old sourdough from a local cafe in Hong Kong called Fineprint, which was leftover from making a mushroom stuffing for Christmas. The bread gets cut into cubes and soaks overnight in a mixture of milk, eggs, and seasoning to transform from hard, inedible cubes into a custardy base for your savory toppings.
Because of this, you can think of strata as the lovechild of a frittata and bread pudding, where you take the mix-ins you love from a frittata and put them into a savory bread pudding with spongy pieces and crispy edges. It’s also a great way to repurpose the end-of-the-day bread from a local bakery that might get tossed, which helps eliminate food waste.
Normally, you would mix everything together the night before in your chosen casserole dish, that way you can pop the entire thing into your oven in the morning. I ended up soaking just the bread overnight and adding the mix-ins the next day since I was lacking fridge space for a baking pan and also wanted to take photos of the ingredients, so feel free to take the easier make-ahead route when constructing your strata.
I made a giant Christmas ham from Golden Pig, so I added small cubes of leftover ham to my strata mixture along with shredded cheddar and Parmesan, plus chopped tomatoes and kale, which gets cooked down so the bitterness is replaced with a delicious green counterpoint to an otherwise rich and hearty dish. Since I’m ✨extra✨ I also baked it in a cake pan to display it on my new cake stand, but you can easily use a casserole dish or even cast iron skillet to get extra crispy edges. Just make sure you double the recipe based on the size of your dish.
I also added vibrant orange-yolked Taiyouran eggs from Waves Pacific in the last part of cooking to make it extra Instagram-worthy. You may notice I kind of overcooked them (I forgot to set a timer 😅) and may or may not have done some food styling to fix it. But don’t fret – the recipe has the right timing to make sure the eggs don’t get overcooked, and you can also disregard the extra eggs for an easier cooking process.
Give this ham and cheese breakfast strata a try and let me know what toppings you would mix in! The beauty of this dish is you can use whatever you have on hand, so go wild with your imagination. Whatever you do – just don’t drop it 😉
Ham and Cheese Breakfast Strata – Great for Christmas Leftovers
Ingredients
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 loaf (8 oz.) of day-old sourdough or other white bread, cubed
- 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked ham
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
- 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- Handful of chopped and destemmed kale (can substitute with spinach)
- 2 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- Few crack fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp mustard powder
- 2 eggs (optional)
Instructions
- Grease a 9-10 inch leakproof cake pan or casserole dish with 1/2 tbsp. butter. If using a cast iron skillet, prepare a large container that can hold the mixture in your fridge.
- Line the bottom with a layer of cubed bread, then layer the ham, cheddar, Parmesan, tomatoes, kale, and remaining bread cubes, mixing if necessary to evenly distribute the ingredients.
- Whisk together the milk, eggs, salt, pepper, and mustard powder, then pour all over the casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next morning, remove the strata from the refrigerator 45 minutes before cooking. If using a cast iron skillet, grease the skillet with 1/2 tbsp. of butter then transfer the strata mixture to your skillet. Preheat the oven to 350F / 175C.
- If desired, top the strata with additional shredded cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread has puffed and is golden brown all over.
- Optional: briefly remove the strata from the oven in the last 8 minutes of baking and make a well in the center. Add 2 eggs into the middle and continue baking for 8-12 minutes until egg whites are set and yolks are runny.
- Let it rest for 5 minutes then dig in and enjoy!
