heavenly breakfast strata

This meal takes a little extra effort but, LISTEN, it's all worth it in the end! It is so delicious, and will impress in any special-occasion brunch-situation. Unless you're like me and you just want to make something badass to eat on your day off. It's good for that too. Just plan ahead for chilling and what-not.

You need:

half a loaf of slightly-stale french bread, cubed
1/2 tsp butter
4 minced shallots (onions will do)
2 cups fresh spinach, shredded
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar or gruyere)
6 eggs
1 cup cream
salt and pepper

Do this: bake the bread cubes at 225 in the oven until they start to crisp just a little- like 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onions until they begin to brown. Add the spinach and cook for about two minutes. Mix in salt, pepper, and place it all in a separate bowl to cool. Add the wine to the same skillet, reducing over medium heat for a few minutes, and take it off the heat to cool as well.

 Now, get out an 8x8 baking dish and layer half the bread cubes in the bottom. Sprinkle with half the spinach mixture and a third of the cheese. Add another layer of bread, mixture, cheese.

Whisk the eggs, reduced wine, and cream together. You can add more salt and pepper as desired. Pour it evenly over the top of the baking dish. Wrap in saran wrap, weight it (I simply placed a bag of sugar on it), and refrigerate 12-24 hours.

When ready to bake, remove the saran wrap and add the last half cup of cheese to the top of the strata. Let the dish sit at room temp while the oven preheats (10-15 minutes) and bake at 325 for 50 minutes.

Congratulations- YOU JUST MADE A FREAKING STRATA.