Strata

Serves six to eight people as a main course

Ingredients

• loaf of Challah (egg) bread (about 12 slices)
• 4 cups of cheese (cheddar, mozza, gruyere, where ever you tastes take you)
• 3 cups milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp each salt, pepper, mustard powder
• 3 chopped leeks
• 1/2 cup red pepper (one should be enough)
• 12 strips of bacon (about half a package) or sausage or whatever meat you want
• 9x13 pyrex dish (or a smaller-but-deeper oval dish, but then do more layers)

Directions

1. cook the bacon
• I usually use the oven: put wax paper on a cookie sheet and lay out all 12 strips of bacon then bake at 350 until they're done)
2. chop up the bacon, leeks, and peppers
3. shred the cheese
4. mix the egg, milk, & spices
5. grease the pyrex
6. layout a double-layer of bread, make sure layer is solid - fill gaps with bits of bread
7. cover with half the leeks, peppers, bacon, & cheese
8. put a single layer of bread, ditto
9. put the rest of the leeks, peppers, bacon, & cheese
10. slowly pour the egg & milk mixture into the pyrex starting from middle and moving outwards as necessary to get even coverage
11. refrigerate at least a three hours, preferably over night
12. bake at 350F for 1 hour