Spinach and Cheese Strata

It's Homecoming at Penn! And since there is no superior way to celebrate than with a pre-Big Game brunch, we decided to host one. Go Team.

I tricked Alex into agreeing to the idea via text message Thursday ("Oh my god I have the best idea let's have a brunch Saturday please please please!"), and upon his consent, I became obsessed with executing the perfect meal. I feverishly consulted the blogs and all of my cookbooks for recipes, changing and revising the menu hourly. Alex was scared.

Eventually, I settled on a Spinach Cheese Strata for the main dish, accompanied by scones (will post next!) and the vanilla mint fruit salad that we wrote about earlier. Plus mimosas. Now, we are not shy about complimenting ourselves on this blog -- sometimes deservedly, and sometimes not. But today, we really were awesome. Everything tasted delicious, and we polished off every last bite.

The recipe for the Strata is on Epicurious, but it was my mother who suggested it. And as per her recommendations, we doubled the spinach and the nutmeg. Also, we used fresh, local spinach from the market instead of a frozen package. If you do that too, just be sure to chop it. Also, because we were slightly pressed for time, we turned up the heat and cooked it for slightly less time -- it became so golden and delicious that I totally recommend it. This dish is perfect for crowds and it really really tastes amazing.