Easy, Cheesy, Gluten-Free Ham & Potato Strata Recipe

Whether you are cooking for a brunch, preparing a special holiday breakfast, or baking ahead to prepare quick options for a week's worth of healthy breakfasts (or even lunches or dinners), this dish brings smiles to faces and satisfaction to stomachs.  If you want to serve it for breakfast but don't want to get up at the crack of dawn, simply construct this dish up to 24 hours ahead of time, cover, and store in the fridge.  When you're ready to bake, uncover it, put it in a cold oven, set it to 350º, and bake for one hour instead of 40 minutes.

This is also a wonderful recipe to use up holiday leftovers.  Layer mashed potatoes one half inch thick in place of the boiled, sliced potatoes.  If you have leftover ham, simply use up to two cups, chopped, in the recipe.

Easy, Cheesy Potato Strata
Prep time: 20 minutes, Bake time: 40 minutes, serves 8-10

• 6 potatoes (peeled if using russet)
• 4 tablespoons butter or ghee
• 1 cup cheddar, grated
• 1 cup gruyere, grated
• 1 onion
• 8 ounces ham
• 8 eggs
• 1 cup creme fraiche
• 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
• Celtic sea salt to taste
• pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350º.  Peel potatoes if using russet.  Slice into fourths.  Place in large pot, fill with water just enough to cover potatoes.  Bring to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are soft but still firm enough to slice.  
2. While potatoes boil, put butter in 9x13-inch pan and place in oven.  Mix cheeses together, beat eggs and creme fraiche together, and grate onion.  When potatoes are done, drain, then slice each piece in half.  Pull pan from the oven and lay half of the potatoes in a single layer at the bottom of pan.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside.
3. In the same pot you just boiled potatoes in, melt 1 tablespoon butter or ghee and add onions.  Saute at medium/high heat until tender, about 3 minutes.  While the onions saute, chop ham.  Turn off heat and stir ham in with onions. Layer all the ham/onion mixture over the potatoes in the pan.  Sprinkle half the cheese mixture over the ham/onions.  Layer the rest of the potatoes over ham, sprinkle with more salt and pepper, then cover with the rest of the cheese.  Pour egg mixture over dish.
4. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Serve hot, room temperature, or cold, depending on your druthers.

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