The Isaac Randall House
Bed and Breakfast

Freeport, Maine

Specialty Recipe

Southwestern Polish Strata

No, this recipe doesn't come from southwest Poland. Rather, we named it for the green chili, taco sauce, and kielbasa that give it most of its flavor. We serve it for breakfast.

Ingredients

Loaf of high-density (sandwich) sliced bread (ordinary white bread tends to get too soggy)

1/2 stick of margarine

1-pound block of very sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1-1/2 pounds of Polish sausage (kielbasa)

Two 4-ounce cans of (Ortega's) green chili

12 extra-large eggs

1/2 cup low-fat (1%) milk

Grease a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish heavily with margarine. Cut the crusts off of 8 or 9 slices of bread and line the bottom of the greased baking dish thoroughly until you can no longer see the bottom. Plug up any holes or cracks with unused bread.

Cut the kielbasa into thin slivers, perhaps 5 slivers to the sausage's original thickness. Spread 1/2 of the slivers evenly over the bread. Spread the contents of 1 can of chile between the sausage slivers. Sprinkle 1/2 of the grated cheese evenly over the above construction.

Beat the eggs, adding the milk, until thoroughly blended. Pour 1/2 of the batter evenly over the bread-cheese-sausage chili layer until the bread is evenly and thoroughly soaked. Add a second layer of bread, possibly using an additional slice to account for the flare in your baking dish. Add the remaining slivers of kielbasa, the second can of chili, and grated cheese as before. Then soak with the remaining egg batter until the second bread layer is completely moist. (If, for some reason or another, there isn't enough batter, make a little more!)

Decorate the top of this concoction with 5 or 6 tablespoons of chili sauce. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and set overnight in refrigerator.

The following morning, pre-set the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is browned and a knife comes out clean.

Serves: 10 to 15

• You found this recipe on 1st Traveler's Choice Internet Cookbook. (www.virtualcities.com)

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