Salami, arugula and tomato strata

Stratas are wonderful ways to free up space in your refrigerator and freezer. I've always got a stash of bread cubes accumulated from ends of loaves I'm trying to save before they reach the compost-fodder stage. At some point they start to take up valuable real estate in the refrigerator freezer and it's time to play another game of what's in the house.

So I grab whatever cheese is teetering on needing using (usually something I bought for some recipe that I can no longer what it was), whatever protein is at hand and random of acts of vegetables. Pour over your standard egg-dairy mixture and you've got a great make-ahead dish.

And once you've eaten your way through the leftovers for lunches, you've got all that reclaimed refrigerator to fill up and start the process all over again.

This version of random acts turned out particularly nicely, so I thought it was worth sharing. 

Salami, arugula and tomato strata

Adapted from variatons on a Gale Gand recipe in House Beautiful

Ingredients

5 cups cubed bread (crusts are fine)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

½ cup salami slices (uncured pink peppercorn worked well here)

1 cup arugula leaves

2 cups grated Fontina (or whatever you’ve got handy)

10 large eggs

1 quart whole milk(or some combo pack of dairy that adds up to that; I used a mix of 2 percent milk and some odds and ends of half and half and cream that needed using)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Method

Grease a 9-by-13 pan. Scatter bread cubes on the bottom of the pan. Scatter tomato halves and salami pieces over the top. Strew the top with arugula, pushing ends down in. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Mix eggs, milk, mustard, salt, garlic powder and pepper together. Pour over ingredients in the pan. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set out pan to warm up in the meantime. Uncover and bake for 60 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. If it starts to get to brown, top with foil. Let cool slightly before serving.

Rating: Just fine. Perfect for days when blizzard-level winds howl and random sheets of snow go sideways past your house, so you'd rather cook what's in your house than leave it.