The picture doesn’t quite do it justice. Strata is a dish somewhere between quiche and bread pudding, like a breakfast casserole. This specimen, from picture perfect coffee boite Pettirosso (1101 E. Pike St.), contains ham and cheese and tastes no where near as heavy or fussy as a quiche or as eggy as a fritatta. The pro move means mixing all the ingredients for your strata the night before, so the egg mixture soaks into the bread completely. Then you pop it in the oven, right before everyone else wakes up. It takes no longer than a little mixing and chopping up what you wish to put in it and cooks in about 25 minutes. This recipe, from Martha Stewart, turned out smashingly when I made it last weekend, substituting piquillo peppers since tomatoes are out of season. Substitute the other ingredients–besides the mixture of egg to milk and bread–at will. You can even use cream instead of milk if you’re game.