leek and goat cheese strata

I made this based off a great receipe from my favorite vegetarian cook book as of late, "Fresh Food Fast" by Peter Berley (www.peterberley.com, it's also on Amazon—buy it, it's great!). The original used tomato, and different spices, but I gave this version a shot, and it worked! If you have an ovenproof saute pan this can be made start to finish in that, from stove top to oven. People seemed to like this a lot! It's pretty hearty.

6 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 medium shallot cut into thin slices
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 large leeks, cut into 1/4" or 1/2" chunks
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage
1/2 pound day old artisanal bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups)
1/4 fresh goat cheese (or more if you want to really cheese it up)
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan or grana padano cheese (again, turn it up if you feel the need. I think I did about 1/2 cup)

Set rack on the middle shelf of oven and preheat to 450 F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and thyme scraped off the branch.

Place a 10" saute pan (ovenproof all the better) on high heat. When hot, add the butter and leaks, and saute for about 4 minutes (until soft), then add the garlic, sage, and red pepper flakes. Saute while stirring another minute.

Either transfer to a oven prooof dish, or keep in the same pan if it is already ovenproof. Stir in the bread and crumble the goat cheese on top. Pour the egg and cream mixture over everything, and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Bake until the strata has set, and is golden on top, about 25 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.