Breakfast Strata with Mushroom and Leeks

A perfect recipe for Easter Brunch or Mother's Day, our Breakfast Strata with Mushrooms and Leeks is comforting, creamy and cheesy. Bonus points: it can be prepared the night before.

Our Breakfast Strata boasts a delicate flavour of spring leeks and mushrooms, and added the sharpness of Canadian cheddar, before topping with a salty prosciutto to bring all the flavours together. The result is comforting, creamy and cheesy, with a subtle onion flavour from the leeks and earthiness of mushrooms. The fat from the prosciutto slowly renders during cooking, allowing the flavour to enter every bite. It is a dish that will satisfy any palate and will have you yearning for more.

Another great thing about breakfast strata is that it can be prepared the night before, much like our Christmas Morning Wife Saver. It allows the bread to fully soak up the eggs, making for an almost pudding-like consistency, but if you are like us and eat more on the fly, it works just as well to be baked off right away. Just wait until it's ready for the oven, before turning it on the oven, so it gets a head start on soaking time.

Featured Ingredient: Leeks

Leeks are one of those vegetables that are easy to overlook in the produce aisle. They are not particularly exciting looking, it's like a giant green onion or scallion.

They have a delicate onion flavour, also similar to a scallion but a little milder and sweeter. Leeks you likely wouldn't eat raw like you would with green onions. Leeks tend to hold a lot of dirt and only part of the plant is ideal for cooking with.

How to Prepare Leeks

How to Trim Leeks

Although the entire plant is technically edible, the darker green portion of leeks are tough and not pleasant to eat. A lot of tutorials suggest cutting the whole leek a couple inches below the dark leaves, but I find this pretty wasteful. To get the most out of the leek, carefully trim each leaf at the point where it goes from greenish-yellow to green. Discard or save the darker portion for making stock.

How to Clean Leeks

Because the most edible portion of leeks grows below the soil, the layers fill up with a lot of dirt. It's important to clean them properly to avoid a gritty bite. After trimming your leeks, cut them half lengthwise, then thinly slice them. Transfer them to a large bowl of cold water and using your fingertips, swirl and shake the leeks releasing the dirt, which will fall to the bottom of the bowl. Set up a sieve or colander over another bowl scoop out the cleaned leeks and place in the sieve to fully drain before sautéing.

How to Make Our Breakfast Strata with Mushrooms and Leeks

Shopping List

Mushrooms, leeks, garlic, fresh thyme, sourdough bread, eggs, prosciutto, butter, whole milk, cheddar cheese, dry mustard, salt and pepper.

Sauté the Vegetables

For this breakfast strata recipe, we cook the leeks and mushrooms separately. For the leeks, melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds before add the leeks to sauté and additional 3-4 minutes, until tender and bright. Transfer to a bowl and return the skillet to the heat cooking the mushrooms the same way, but for 5-6 minutes.

Make the Egg Mixture

Crack 10 eggs into a large bowl and add 1 teaspoon of each dry mustard and salt, plus ½ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Whisk until well combined then add in 3 cups of milk.

Assemble the Breakfast Strata

To assemble the strata, place the bread cubes in the casserole dish. Add in about ¾ of the leeks and mushrooms, ½ the cheese and about 1 teaspoon of thyme. Mix this all together with your hands until evenly incorporated. Pour in the egg mixture, ensuring every bread cube gets completely soaked. Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, leeks and mushrooms. Tear 6 slices of prosciutto in half and arrange on top, tucking them in and out of the bread cubes.

Bake the Strata and Cool

For best results, place the strata in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight. If you are making for right away, you can preheat the oven to 350°F and use this preheating time to allow the bread to soak up the egg. Before baking melt and pour ¼ cup of butter on top.

Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown, prosciutto crispy and eggs have set. You can test doneness by piercing the centre of the strata with a knife. If it comes out clean, it's good to go. If there is raw egg on the knife, allow to cook an additional 10 minutes. I find that the melted cheese can give an appearance of rawness, so the knife test is the best way to measure if the strata is ready.

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