Caramelized Onions - Success!

I keep on doing this, where I let a week or two go by without posting, and then post about 6 recipes at once.
I decided to give caramelized onions another try.  I got the idea from the broccoli recipe, and then decided that they would also be delicious in a strata.
I started with the strata.  I had gone to my Take It Away (best sandwich shop ever), and of course, I couldn't leave without buying a bag of their bread ends.  This time I think there was even more bread than the last time!  Which turned out to be a good thing.  The recipe called for 1/2 lb,

so I cubed it,

and since it was still really soft and fresh after sitting out for a day, I decided to toast it.  I had the onions caramelizing, stuck the bread in the oven, and sat back to watch tv.  Then I promptly forgot about the bread.  I wasn't worried about the onions, since they were on very low heat.  After a little while, I started to think I was forgetting about something.  Then I remembered the bread!  I expected to find little black mounds where each cube was, but they actually didn't burn.  They became perfect croutons.

And then I turned them into breadcrumbs.  Kind of coarse, but still good.

So now that the first batch of bread cubes was unusable, I was very happy to still have a lot of bread left.  This time I set a timer, in case whatever I was watching on tv (most likely Gilmore Girls reruns) sucked me in.
This strata was just as delicious as the others I have made.  I actually think this was the best yet!  I followed my favorite recipe, except I used fresh herbs (basil and rosemary), the dairy I had on hand, caramelized onions, and fresh tomatoes.
I made the mistake of making this two days before going out of town for a long weekend, so I decided to bring it with me!  It was definitely a hit with my grandparents!

Recipe: Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:
3 medium red onions, sliced thinly
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter

Directions:
Heat the oil and butter over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add onions,

and cook until they are starting to soften.

Turn down the heat and cook for 2-3 hours or until caramelized, stirring occasionally.

Then use with everything!

Recipe: Strata with Caramelized Onions, Tomatoes and Goat Cheese (adapted from Baking and Books)
Ingredients:
1/2 lb artisan bread, cubed
Caramelized red onions (the equivalent of 1-2 onions)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt

6 large eggs

1/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup whole milk

2 tbsp fresh basil, julienned

2 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced

1/4 lb goat cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
If your bread is still soft, toast it for a few minutes.  Don't forget about it like I did!
Caramelize the onions, as above.  If using pre-prepared onions, then reheat them now over low-medium heat.  Add the garlic and red pepper and saute for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and salt and bring to a simmer.

Stir the bread into the mixture.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, basil and rosemary.
Pour the bread mixture into a 9x9 glass baking dish (or something of a similar size).

Crumble the goat cheese over the bread,

then pour the egg mixture over everything

and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Bake until the strata has set and is golden on top, about 25 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Refrigerate leftovers - they can last up to a week.

The next night, I still had a lot of caramelized onions left, and decided to use the original recipe I had found.  This is now my favorite way to eat broccoli!  You really have to try this.  The onions are so sweet, they make you think you are eating something decadent.
I didn't have any pine nuts on hand, so I toasted some slivered almonds instead.  They tasted so good, I might just use them every time I make this recipe.
The recipe said that it made 4 servings, but I honestly ate all of this myself!

Recipe: Broccoli with Caramelized Onions (from Baking Bites)
Ingredients:
Caramelized red onions (equivalent of 1-2 onions)
1 head broccoli
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
s&p to taste

Directions:
Make the caramelized onions as above, or reheat (in a pan) some that were previously made.
Boil a salted pot of water.  Add broccoli and cook for just a few minutes, until tender but still crisp.  And make sure they're still bright green.
Add the broccoli to the pan with the onions, and add the balsamic vinegar.  Toss and cook for a few minutes.  Take off the heat, add the toasted almonds, s&p, and enjoy!

My Favorite Strata

Not that long ago, I made an amazing strata as a way to use up some goat cheese.  Normally the reason to make a strata is to use up old bread, but that time I actually bought some bread for that purpose.
Last week I was getting a sandwich at Take It Away (the best sandwich shop in Charlottesville), and I decided to take advantage of their cheap bags of bread ends.  It's an amazing deal - for 50 cents you get almost a pound of freshly baked bread.  And it's not just the crusty ends, you get a decent amount of the loaf.  The best part is that there are 3-4 different kinds of bread in one bag.

Of course, when I bought the bread, my first thought was to make a strata.  I used the recipe from last time as a base, but switched it up a bit.  I used zucchini, red onion and artichokes instead of the tomatoes.  And I actually used this as a way to get rid of some cheese.  I always will have a small amount left of a cheese and then will buy a replacement, and will use that instead of the old one.  I think that I should have used more liquid - there was a lot of bread and veggies.

Recipe: Zucchini, Onion and Artichoke Frittata (adapted from Baking and Books)
Ingredients:
~10 oz day old bread, cubed - if you have a good sandwich shop nearby that uses homemade bread, see if they sell their bread ends.  They might even give them away!
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
1 large zucchini, cut in thick slices and then cut in thirds
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
6 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup half and half
1-1 1/2 cups grated/shredded cheese (I used a combination of Gruyere and Pecorino Romano - anything would work)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F.
Whisk together the eggs, milk and half and half.
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add the onions and cook until partly translucent.  Add the zucchini, and cook until they are both tender.  Then add the artichoke hearts and cook until heated through.  Make sure you don't cook too long - you don't want them to dry out.

Add the bread cubes and toss to mix well.

Put half the bread and veggies in an 8x8 pyrex dish, then put half the cheese, and put the rest of the bread and veggies on top.  Push down to make sure it all fits.  Pour the milk and egg mixture on top.  Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Cook until it is set - no longer jiggly.  Let it rest for 5 minutes, and then enjoy!

Strata is my new favorite food

I don't know if you noticed from my last few posts, but I've been adding goat cheese to everything.  I bought a big log of it at Trader Joe's (such a great price), and I opened it up to add to the roasted garlic pasta a few posts back.  Once it was opened, I realized that I had close to 11 oz of goat cheese that I desperately needed to use up.  When looking through my bookmarked recipes, I found this.  Typically, the purpose of a strata is to use up old bread.  Since mine was to use up the goat cheese, I had to purchase some artisan bread just for this dish.  I bought it the day before, and then let it sit out to let it get a little stale.  Somehow it was still soft in the center when I started to cut it up.  Next time, I would probably toast it a little to really dry it out.  It is pretty ironic that when I buy bread to actually eat, it seems to go stale immediately, but when I want it to go stale, it stays fresh and soft.
The bread I bought was a rosemary artisan loaf in the bakery section at Harris Teeter.  I used some of it to eat with my pasta and veggies dinner the night before, used most of it for this, and still had some left to eat with subsequent dinners.  And of course, it was still fresh then.  I made this on the 23rd, and it lasted me the entire week.
It was insanely delicious!  And really simple to make.  I changed it up slightly - I used leeks instead of onions, whole milk instead of heavy cream, dried rosemary instead of sage, a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes instead of a 28 oz can, and I added sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil.  This recipe is really easy to adapt.  As long as your solid to liquid ratio stays about the same, you can add anything to this.
Oh and I accidentally added the goat cheese last, instead of adding it and then pouring over the liquid.  Whoops!  It still turned out great though.

Recipe: Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Strata (Adapted from Baking and Books)
Ingredients:
~10 sun dried tomato halves, dry packed
2-3 tbsp olive oil
6 eggs (I used brown organic)
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp dried rosemary (rub together to break it up so you don't get huge long pieces)
2 medium-large leeks
4 garlic cloves, chopped (I got lazy at this point and just used 4 cubes of frozen crushed garlic)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
15 oz canned diced tomatoes (I used roasted garlic flavor) with their juices
1 tsp coarse sea salt
freshly cracked pepper
1/2 lb day-old rosemary artisan bread
1/4 lb goat cheese, crumbled
basil leaves, julienned
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
This step can be done in advance - it'll give time to develop the flavor.  Chop up the sun dried tomato halves.  Put them in a small shallow dish and add the olive oil, trying to cover all of them.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Whisk the eggs, milk, and dried herbs.
Cut off the dark green portions of the leeks (I added this to my freezer scraps).  Slice the white and light green parts down the center, and rinse really well.  Leeks tend to hold onto a lot of dirt and grit.  Shake off the excess water, and thinly slice them.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the oil and the sun dried tomatoes, and heat up.  Add the leeks and cook until they start to brown and they are fully translucent and soft.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for a few more minutes.  Add tomatoes with juices and salt, and let it simmer for a few minutes, until nice and thick.
Cube the bread, into about 1-inch pieces.  Add the bread to the tomato mixture, and toss well to coat.
Grease a glass 8x8 baking dish.  Put the tomato and bread mixture in the dish, add the crumbled goat cheese and basil on top, and then pour the milk and egg mixture over everything.  Sprinkle the freshly grated parmesan right on top.

Bake until the strata is set, and the cheese is a golden brown - about 20-30 minutes.  Let it rest for a few minutes after coming out, and then it is ready to eat!