Breakfast Strata with Corn and Chiles

This strata, filled with sweet corn and roasted poblano chiles, is a wonderful make-ahead breakfast, perfect for Sunday brunch, holiday mornings, or breakfast potlucks. 

Strata is a layered casserole of bread, vegetables, cheese, all held together with milk and eggs. You assemble the ingredients the night before, and then bake the casserole the next morning. 

The milk and eggs soak into the bread overnight and all of the ingredients meld into a delicious savory, cheesy and custardy breakfast. Plus, it's filled with lots of delicious sweet corn. It's almost like a sweet corn sandwich! 

You can vary the ingredients, including adding bacon or sausage if you like. Or, serve this one with a side of bacon and these breakfast muffins, a fruit salad or green salad. 

A lot of strata recipes call for breaking up the bread into chunks, like a bread pudding. Because strata means layers in Latin, I went the traditional route of layering the bread on the bottom and top, with the sweet corn and roasted peppers in the middle. 

Of course, there's lots of cheddar cheese too. 

You can use any bread you like. If the bread is super crusty, you should trim the crusts, but otherwise, you can leave the crusts on. 

For the bread layers, Lay down whole slices of bread and then cut pieces to fill in the gaps for an end to end layer of bread. 

Also, before assembling this strata, cook the corn on the cob and roast the poblanos on a foil lined baking sheet under the broiler. 

How to assemble this strata:

First, line the bottom of a 10 cup casserole dish with bread slices and brush them with melted butter. 

Next, pour some of the milk and egg mixture over the bread and then sprinkle it with the chiles, corn, some green onions, cilantro, and 3/4 of the cheese and then more of the egg mixture. Top the mixture with a final layer of bread, patched together to make a single layer. 

Brush the top layer of bread with melted butter, pour on the rest of the egg mixture, and sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese. 

Once the strata is assembled, cover it in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate it overnight. 

In the morning, bake the strata in a 350 degree F oven for a little over an hour. 

You can bake it straight from the refrigerator if your casserole is metal or enameled cast iron. A gratin pan makes a gorgeous presentation. 

If your casserole pan is glass or ceramic, remove it from the refrigerator about an hour before baking. 

You can substitute other veggies for the corn and poblanos, but make sure that they are cooked or roasted, and won't release too much moisture into the casserole. I think roasted tomatoes would be delicious. 

More delicious breakfast casseroles:

Mexican Breakfast Casserole

Tater Tot Casserole with Sausage and Cheese

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

French Toast Casserole

Waffle Casserole with Maple Sausage

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

Baking Bloggers: Baking with Sweet Corn

• • Bacon Corn Puddings by Food Lust People Love
  • Baked Corn Pudding by A Day in the Life on the Farm
  • Breakfast Strata with Corn and Chiles by Karen's Kitchen Stories
  • Corn and Pepper Medley Pierogi Casserole by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
  • Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob by Sneha’s Recipe
  • Street Corn Baked Empanadas by Magical Ingredients
  • Taco Noodle Hot Dish by Palatable Pastime

Breakfast Strata with Corn and Chiles

Yield: 9 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 1 H & 5 MInactive time: 8 HourTotal time: 9 H & 50 M

This strata, filled with sweet corn and roasted poblano chiles, is a wonderful make-ahead breakfast, perfect for Sunday brunch or breakfast potlucks.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, stems, seeds, and ribs removed
• 3 ears sweet corn, husks removed
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk 
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• White halves of 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• About 6 to 8 3/8 inch thick slices of white, French, or Italian bread (not sourdough)

Instructions

1. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the poblanos, skin side up, and place them about 10 inches under the broiler. Broil until they begin to char. Flip them over and broil the insides for five minutes. Flip them over and broil the skin until fully charred. Place them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 5 minutes. Remove the skins and slice into thin slices lengthwise. Set aside.
2. Boil the corn in salted water for 5 minutes. Let cool and slice off the kernels and set aside. 
3. Whisk together the milk, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. 
4. Grease a 10 cup casserole with butter and line the bottom with bread slices, patching any gaps with smaller pieces. Brush the bread with half of the melted butter. 
5. Pour 1/4 of the egg and milk mixture over the bread. 
6. Top the bread with the chiles, corn, scallions, cilantro, and 6 ounces of the cheese. Pour another 1/4 of the egg and milk mixture over the ingredients in the pan. 
7. Top with another layer of bread and brush it with the rest of the melted butter. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and evenly pour the rest of the egg and milk mixture over everything. Cover with foil sprayed with nonstick spray and refrigerate overnight. 
8. The next morning, heat your oven to 350 degrees F, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes more. 
9. Cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. 

Nutrition Facts

Calories

301.56

Fat (grams)

20.75

Sat. Fat (grams)

10.72

Carbs (grams)

15.51

Fiber (grams)

2.30

Net carbs

13.21

Sugar (grams)

7.19

Protein (grams)

14.94

Sodium (milligrams)

379.34

Cholesterol (grams)

173.37

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2021/08/breakfast-strata-with-corn-and-chiles.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Strata, sweet corn

Breakfast, Casserole

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This recipe was adapted, with a few small adjustments, from Nick Malgieri's Bread. While the book is mostly bread recipes, there are also recipes for using the bread you've baked.