Rosemary Cauliflower Strata with Pecorino Cheese

When it comes to cooking, I’m of the school that makes up a recipe on the fly. I apply my general knowledge of food and don’t often follow proper recipes (and when I do, I often tweak and make a lot of substitutions). That’s certainly the case with this next dish, where I pulled things together based on what I had on hand. I’ve provided a recipe, but of course, I encourage you to experiment and come up with ways to make it your own.

Today’s dinner is a strata (savory bread pudding that uses an equal mix of egg and milk for an eggier texture) with cauliflower, rosemary from my garden, shallots, and pecorino cheese (leftover from a recent excursion to Eataly).

You’ll need:

6 C stale bread, torn up
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot, julienned
3 C cauliflower
3/4 C pecorino cheese, grated
2 sprigs rosemary, torn up
1.5 C milk
2 large eggs

1. Tear up or cut up your bread. With 3/4 of a baguette from Citerella that had gone stale sitting on my counter, I knew I needed some kind of bread-based recipe, hence the strata. (I also threw in the last of a multi-grain sandwich loaf for good measure.)

A good tip: if your bread is too dry to chop or rip up, soak it in the milk before tearing into it; the milk can be saved for the milk/egg mixture.

2. In a large bowl, beat the 3 eggs into the milk. Soak the bread in the milk/egg mixture. Fold mixture with your hands to ensure even distribution of the liquid.

3. Heat up some olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent. Add the cauliflower and saute until slightly browned. Take off heat and set aside. Cauliflower has a naturally nutty flavor when lightly browned, which I thought would pair well with shallots (you can never go wrong with shallots, which is why I almost always keep them on hand) and rosemary, for that unmistakable savoriness that it adds to dishes.

4. Combine bread mixture with cauliflower/shallots, cheese, and rosemary. Transfer to a medium casserole dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven (preheated) for 30 minutes.

5. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4.

Update 4/13: Edited to add the cheese and fix the numbering. Thanks to my friend David for the catch!

Update: Because of the website reformat, I’ve lost some of the photos on the site including the ones that used to be above.