I know this is exactly how you wanted to start your new year. With bacon, cream, potatoes, cheese, and everything that is right with this world minus resolutions. But here’s the thing. I’m just going to throw out a guess here, and say you’re a little like me. You are slightly neurotic finding it hard to keep new year resolutions when the new year starts on a Tuesday. Isn’t there an unspoken law that every new beginning starts on a Monday, the first day of the week — err, Sundays never count but as a last hurrah.

I mean isn’t that what we say? Monday I will start eating a salad everyday instead of Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter World (ohmygah!). Monday I will wake up at 7 a.m. instead of rolling out of bed when I hear the baby wake up at 9 a.m.. Monday I will start running off the extra baby toddler weight I’ve been lugging around for over a year. Monday I will finally get back into the kitchen since the play room is finished and our ghetto baby gate comprised of two dinning room chairs and a board are in place to keep my kitchen enthusiastic son locked away in BallBookToy Land, where all babies are joyful and not at all whinny because mama isn’t right next to them at all times playing and entertaining them and smooching their squishy cheeks and giving long soothing back rubs and caressing fingers through soft baby hair…

Then again, you’re probably not nearly as weird as me. I get it. Oh, maybe it’s the baby thing. Either way, my main resolution, not that I am in anyway supporting this resolution tradition everyone seems to partake in, is to be a little more on top of my game in the kitchen. This past year has been absolutely amazing. Motherhood has been easier than I thought yet far more time consuming than I ever imagined the more we enter in toddlerdom. As you can tell, cooking has taken somewhat of a back burner of late. And though I hate to shout out a resolution for something I am already supposed to be doing and for a year that has serious plans to interrupt and squash this vow almost instantaneously, I still think for my sanity in this next year it would be beneficial for us both that I cook just a bit more.

We auditioned this strata during our Christmas brunch and it had me immediately drumming up excuses to make again. I had not planned on it taking me until the new year, but as I’ve promised myself to only make non-commital resolutions when it comes to food on new years that begin on any day of the week besides Monday, I thought it just as fitting to begin this year with the same breakfast we ended with last year. Though not at all diet friendly or carb averse I do hope you can appreciate a strata  — a term I think should be used quite loosely since this is more reminiscent of a savory bread pudding — made from a kitchen permeated with the beautiful pitiful sounds of screams and cries and protests of our little gymnast who finds it torturous to play with balls and read books and beat on a teensy drum when he could be turning stove burner knobs or yanking on mama’s arm when mama’s pointy sharp arm extension is in use. I don’t think my son got the list of resolutions I made for him.

Also, not that I’m a big birthday person (haha, yeah right) but our little corner of the internet becomes 3 this month. It’s scary to think 3 years of my life, my accomplishments, failures and everything in between has been shoved out into the unknown and from it I’ve gained a few friends and a whole heckuva lot of excellent recipes (burritos being our favorite) and you all dear readers have made it so much more enjoyable than I could have ever imagined. Thank you.

Bacon, Mushroom and Potato Strata
Adapted heavily from Tasting Table

Serves 8

As I mentioned above this, to me, was more of a breakfasty bread pudding. Traditional stratas are usually comprised of layers of bread and filling whereas this was cubed bread soaked in the eggy custard — bread pudding style. Call it what you may, it will not disappoint.

12 ounces fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
10 ounces (about 8 slices) thick-cut bacon, cut into lardons
1 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 cloves garlic minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
5 large eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon piment d’espelette or red-pepper flakes
3 cups gently packed (or slightly mounded) 3/4-inch cubed French bread, crusts removed if desired
3 tablespoons chives, plus extra for garnish
3 ounces Taleggio cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Preheat the oven to 325-degrees.

Place potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook the potatoes until just tender — your knife should slide in easily yet need the potato to be pushed on with the back of a fork to be released — about 6 minutes. Drain and cut the potatoes into 1/4-inch thick coins.

Place bacon in a large cast iron skillet and render over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon remove bacon from pan and allow to drain on a towel. Set bacon aside and drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan and place back over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushroom soften and release their juices. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the mixture from the heat and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the cream, parmesan, mustard, olive oil, thyme and piment d’espelette. Fold in the bread, potatoes, chives, Taleggio, bacon and mushroom mixture.

Line the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper and oil the paper and sides of the pan. Pour the strata mixture into the pan and gently shake or use a spatula to even out strata into an even layer. Grate a light dusting, about 1 – 2 tablespoons, of parmesan over the top and sprinkle with some extra chives, about a teaspoon or so. Bake strata until the eggs are set and the crust is golden, about 35 minutes, then broil until browned on top, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then unmold the strata, slice into wedges and serve.