Mozzarella and Pesto Strata, a must!

I've made this twice and the first time we liked it well enough, but I saw some of the mistakes I made and I perfected the recipe for round two.  Let me tell you, the second time was the charm here, it was divine!  Eggs can be funny to bake with if they are the main ingredient but the real trick is how long you let the eggs and bread sit in the fridge.  The recipe suggests a minimum of 2 hours but no longer than 24, I had no choice but to let the eggs sit overnight because I wasn't going to get up any earlier on Sunday morning for prep time! I already got out of bed at 5:30am to prepare the other casserole to bake and allow the strata to reach room temp. before I plunged it into a hot oven.  I made casseroles for Easter Sunday brunch for our trusty choir members, clergy and other participants, hence the early morning rise.  So, I prepared the strata the night before and let everything solidify for 8 hours.  I was a little concerned with how much egg soaked into the bread, thinking the tops of the bread wouldn't be covered by the rising egg during the baking.  It turned out great, here are the steps:

Pick out a deep casserole dish and cut your bread to match the height of the dish - slightly under.  Make sure you use french bread for this recipe, it'll be slender in diameter and long enough so you won't need more than one loaf.  I placed the bread in the dish before I piled on the pesto so I could reposition as needed without getting pesto all over the place.  

I can't stress this enough, make your own pesto for this recipe.  Pine nuts are expensive so you can use toasted walnuts if you prefer - I use walnuts when I make spinach pesto and the flavor is just as good.  Another trick here is to let the basil sit overnight in a airtight container, in the fridge before using, the color will darken and the flavors have a chance to really blend - just like leftovers.
Spread the pesto evenly on each slice but don't overdue it.  You don't want the pesto to pool on the top of this dish an overtake the red peppers. 

This recipe also called for olives but I'm personally not a fan and really, I don't think the pungent flavor does the pesto and red peppers justice.  Seems like they would hog the spotlight.  So, grab yourself a jar of roasted red peppers and dice up and sprinkle over the pesto and bread.

Go ahead, use the entire amount of mozzarella cheese! You won't regret it.

This is what your strata should look like before you cover it and pop in the fridge for a good 8 hours.  Be sure to carefully pour the egg mixture over the bread, take your time, you don't want to force the peppers around the dish. Don't be alarmed if half of the liquid seems to be "missing" in the morning.  It'll cook up, fluff up and smell incredible after a good 60 minutes in the oven.  Mine didn't look anything like the photo in our book or the online recipe...I find this a good thing.  It looks a little pathetic on the website but it's entirely possible they cut up their bread differently, etc.  I like the way ours looked [fyi: the casserole will sink slightly when you let it sit for about 5 minutes after it comes out of the oven, no worries, it'll still taste delicious].

I really like that this recipe can be used when you have company for the weekend and can spend more time together and less time toiling away in the kitchen when you should be enjoying coffee and conversation with your guests!  Simply take it out in the morning while the oven is preheating and you'll have a delicious meal without the fuss :)