Bacon and Spring Onion Strata

From miz.mel, of Jooly's Joint.

This tasty dish is a great weekend breakfast bake. The best way I’ve found to do it is to make it the night before and refrigerate it overnight. Doing all the preparation well in advance means you can rest before preparing the rest of the meal.

Challah is a Jewish egg bread, most often available in shops on Fridays. Look in Jewish bakeries and delicatessens, or supermarkets in Jewish areas. If you can’t get hold of it, brioche is a good substitute (though it has a higher fat content).

	1 person	2 people	4 people
Back bacon	3 oz (2 slices)	5 oz (3 slices)	10 oz (6 slices)
Spring onions	1	2	4
Slices egg bread (Challah)	2	4	8
Honey or grain mustard	0.5 tsp	1 tbsp	2 tbsp
Grated mature Cheddar cheese	2 oz	3 oz	6 oz
Eggs	2	3	6
Milk	4 fl oz	8 fl oz	16 fl oz
Chopped fresh thyme	½ tsp (pinch dried)	1 tsp (½ tsp dried)	2 tsp (1 tsp dried)
Pepper	pinch	pinch	pinch

1. Coarsely chop the bacon and cut the spring onions into 1-inch pieces.
2. In a non-stick pan, brown the bacon over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. Add the spring onions and cook for about 1 minute or until softened.
3. Spread the mustard over 4 slices of bread. Divide the bacon mixture and most of the Cheddar cheese evenly over the mustard, retaining some of the cheese. Top with remaining bread.
4. Cut each in half on the diagonal, and arrange in a greased baking dish.
5. Whisk together the eggs, milk, thyme and pepper. Pour into the baking dish, making sure to soak all the bread. Sprinkle with the remaining Cheddar cheese. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 180˚C or Gas Mark 4. Bake in centre of oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until completely set.