A strata is just a layered casserole, but it sounds so much sexier when you call it a strata. There is nothing sexy about the word casserole. I brought this to Brian’s Sukkot potluck celebration, and it was consumed quickly by the crowd. I was asked for the recipe and I explained that I did not have one, but that I improvised it from what I had at home.

I browned ½ of sweet Italian sausage, but you could use any meat (ham, bacon, chicken). Put the meat aside. Then I sautéed an onion, sliced thinly, till soft and added 3 cloves of garlic, minced, for another 90 seconds. Don’t burn the garlic. Combine the sausage, onions, and garlic with ½ - ¾ of a loaf of cubed stale bread (there should be enough cubes to generously fill the 9x13 glass pan) and a cup of shredded cheese in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat 8 large eggs with a pint of half and half, pour in to the other bowl and get the bread cubes coated.

Butter a 9x13 pan, and put the mixture in the pan. Cover with foil. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350. Remove foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking.

The beauty of the recipe is the flexibility – use any meat (or don’t), add any veggies (mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower, etc), use any kind of cheese you want (or don’t), add any herbs for flavor (I used rosemary). The important part is the egg and dairy mixture – it makes the custard that binds everything together.