Broccoli & Cheddar Strata

📝 Ingredients

• 200 g stale country bread
• 300 g broccoli, cut into small florets
• 100 g grated cheddar
• 6 eggs
• 400 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 spring onions
• 10 g unsalted butter (for the dish)
• 1 pinch of ground nutmeg
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• 20 x 30 cm baking dish
• Saucepan
• Colander
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Cling film

📖 Steps

1. The night before, cut the stale bread into 2 to 3 cm cubes, crust and all. If it's still soft, spread the cubes on a baking tray and dry them in the oven at 150 °C for 10 minutes: they need to be firm to absorb the custard without turning to mush.
2. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and drop in the broccoli florets for 3 minutes, just to soften them while keeping a bright green colour. Drain, run under cold water to stop the cooking and dry in a tea towel.
3. Finely slice the spring onions. Butter the baking dish, then layer in half the bread, half the broccoli, half the spring onions and a third of the cheddar. Repeat with the rest of the bread, broccoli and spring onions, then another third of the cheddar.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, mustard, ½ tsp salt, pepper and the nutmeg, until smooth and slightly frothy.
5. Pour this custard slowly and evenly over the bread, then press down with the back of a spatula so all the cubes are well soaked. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar, cover with cling film and leave overnight in the fridge (at least 4 hours).
6. In the morning, take the dish out of the fridge 20 minutes before baking and preheat the oven to 180 °C. Remove the cling film and press the bread down one last time with the spatula if any dry cubes are poking out at the surface.
7. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the strata is well puffed up, the top golden and crisp, and a knife inserted in the centre comes out with no liquid. If the top browns too quickly, cover it with a sheet of foil.
8. Leave to rest for 5 minutes out of the oven so the strata firms up, then cut into 4 portions and serve hot or warm: the centre should be soft like a custard and the top crisp.