Recipe: Spinach Strata

Spring is finally here!  And while there are still winter storage vegetables left to use there are also new vegetables becoming available weekly.
Spinach is one of this year’s first spring vegetables and we’ve been loving having it.  It’s an easy one to throw into whatever you’re having for dinner, either fresh or cooked.
In this dish it is just one of many flavours present, accompanied by sautéed mushrooms, onions, carrots, and a bit of bacon.  And everything in this dish is available from Baileys! 
A strata is sort of like a frittata combined with French toast.  You chop up stale bread, throw it in a casserole dish with vegetables and some meat (if you like), and cover everything with a mixture of eggs and milk.  Then you refrigerate it for a day or more allowing the stale bread to soak up much of the egg mixture.  When baked it takes on a bread pudding sort of consistency—very custardy—but in this case nothing like a dessert thanks to the savoury vegetables.

Spinach Strata
2-4 slices of bacon (optional, otherwise use oil to fry veggies)
½ onion, sliced thinly
½ lb mushrooms, chopped
½ carrot, sliced into very thin sticks, or grated
Several handfuls of spinach, roughly ¼ - ½ lb (or more!), chopped
Salt and pepper, herbs
½ loaf of stale or several-days-old bread, chopped into 1 inch pieces
8 eggs
2 cups milk (or mixture of milk and cream)
½ cup grated cheese (your choice, but something on the stronger side is nice)
Heat a frying pan or skillet and fry the bacon.  (If omitting the bacon heat oil in the pan).  Once the bacon is finished cooking remove it and chop it up (leaving the bacon grease for frying).  Add the onions, mushrooms, and carrots and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the veggies are nicely caramelized and the mushrooms have released some of their juices.
Add the spinach and salt and pepper and fry for another minute or two, until the spinach is wilted.  Mix together the eggs and milk.  Put the chopped bread into a 9x13 casserole dish, add the cooked veggies and chopped bacon, and pour the egg and milk mixture over everything.  It’s okay if some of the ingredients are not covered completely with the egg mixture.  Top with grated cheese, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. 
Preheat the oven to 350◦F.  Bake the strata uncovered for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  Let the strata sit for about 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with different garnishes to add some more colour and interest, like salsa, hot sauce, sour cream and chives, etc.

Frozen Berry Coffee Cake

I grew up with blackberry coffee cake every Sunday morning.  I’m pretty sure the secret family recipe featured Bisquick pancake mix.  In an attempt to make the cake more local this recipe replaces all refined sugars with maple syrup and honey, and makes use of an overnight rest to soften the whole wheat flour.  If you look in your freezer and don’t have any frozen fruit then you know that this summer you need to freeze more (which is how I feel after finishing the raspberries in this cake!). 

Frozen Berry Coffee Cake

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking’s “Blueberry Cake.”

Cake Batter:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

(or 1 cup of hard sifted flour or light spelt flour instead of the above flours)

⅓ cup milk

¼ cup melted butter or oil

⅓ cup maple syrup

½ tsp. vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

2 cups frozen berries (blueberries/serviceberries/raspberries/strawberries/blackberries…)

Streusel Topping:

⅓ cup whole wheat or hard sifted flour

2-3 tbsp. oats/barley flakes/spelt flakes

¼ cup cold butter, chopped into pieces (or use a fork to crush the butter)

¼ cup honey

2-3 tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

2-3 tbsp. ground walnuts or pecans (optional)

Mix together the flours, milk, butter/oil, and maple syrup, cover and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning add the salt, baking powder, and egg.  Pour/scoop the batter into a greased cake pan (or pie dish) and top with the frozen berries.  Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together the streusel topping with a fork or pastry cutter until the butter and dry ingredients have formed together into pea-sized clumps.  Alternatively you can use a food processor to mix it all together. 

Cover the berries with the streusel and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. 

Serve with some really deliciously-strong [organic fair trade] coffee….

Recipe from Jon Spee who blogs about cooking local foods and homebrewing in KW.  

Maple Custard - 99% Local

I’m always on the lookout for desserts that utilize 100% local ingredients (well, if you use vanilla it’s not technically 100% local, but pretty close).  When I realized that my maple ice cream would work as a baked custard it was great because during the winter ice cream appeals slightly less than it does in the summer (but really, ice cream is always welcome…).  Anyways, this is a very simple recipe and is incredibly rich and tasty.  

When you make this custard you can make it in small ramekins or a large ovenproof bowl.  If you make it in ramekins feel free to fill them with a small amount of maple syrup, about 1 tablespoon in the bottom of each.  Then flip them out onto plates to serve as maple flan.

Baked Maple Custard

• 3-4 eggs (or 2-3 eggs and 1-2 egg yolks)
• ½ – ¾ cup maple syrup
• Dash of salt
• 2 ½ cups milk (or 2 cups milk and ½ cup cream)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract, or scraped seeds from a vanilla bean

Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Heat the milk (and cream) over medium-low heat until just steaming.  Meanwhile whisk the eggs (and yolks) with the maple syrup and salt until blended.  When the milk is hot gradually whisk it into the egg and syrup mixture.  If you want you can pour the new mixture through a mesh sieve to strain out any large egg chunks, which will make for a much smoother custard.  Pour the mixture into a large ovenproof bowl or ramekins.  

Bake the custard in a water bath for 40-60 minutes.  The time really depends on the shape and size of your bowl or ramekins.  The custard is done when the top is set and has begun to caramelize.  According to Betty Crocker, the custard is set when a “knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean.”

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.  If using ramekins the custard can be flipped out onto a small plate when served.

Guest Recipe Post by Jon Spee

The Local Kitchener