Summer Vegetable Gratin

So I thought I'd write about Summer Vegetable Gratin while I ate it, saved the file and posting it now. Hef's dad is taking a shower after our game of lacrosse. The idea for Summer Vegetable Gratin came from pg. 256 of The Complete America's test kitchen tv show cookbook. I changed somethings and there are some things that need to change in the future, but its delicious! Also it makes the house smell like a pizzeria or something fragrent like that. So here's the recipe that I ended up using:


1lb each zucchini and summer squash (I used zucchini from our garden so I just sliced enough to make the pan look ful)

3-4 ripe tomatoes

2 medium garlic cloves crushed, minced, or pressed, whatever (Hef's dad likes using the press, and now we have a metal one so he can't break it)

handful of chopped parsley

3 tablespoons evoo (with a little extra for pan)

About 1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped basil

S&P

I used a 13x9 glass pyrex pan, but the cookbook said you could use a real gratin dish of similar size. Use the little extra oil to brush the pan for nonstick purpose.

Slice the zucchini and summer squash into 1/4 inch thick slices, sprinkle with salt and let sit in a colander for 45 minutes to dehydrate. Then place on 3 sheets of paper towel and using 3 more paper towels press out anymore liquid possible.

Slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices, arrange on paper towels, sprinkle each layer with salt, let sit for 30 minutes, and also press out excess water.

At this time its good to preheat the oven to 400. I hate recipes where you start preheating the oven and the oven is at 400 for 15 minutes it didn't need to be! Waste! The way the recipe is written it tells you to turn the oven on then let the zucchini sit for 45 minutes, and run an electric oven for 45 minutes? NO!

Mix together the oil, garlic and parsley. Toss half the oil mix with the zucchini and summer squash and layer into baking dish. Layer tomatoes on top and pour on the rest of the oil.

Bake for 45 minutes. Near the end of cooking time mix up the breadcrumbs, parmesan, I bet mozzarella would be good too, and the parsley.Remove from oven, turn oven up to 450, and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top. I put on all the breadcrumbs the recipe called for and its too much! I don't like breadcrumb topping on mac and cheese or anything like that so too much for me so apply to your own liking, then bake at 450 for 5-10 minutes til breadcrumbs brown up.

I let it cool while we played lacrosse. Other then the breadcrumbs I really like it. I would also suggest omitting the breadcrumbs and taking the veggies baked in the oil and tossing with penne or some pasta like that. The ATK(america's test kitchen) recipe included sauted onions, which i didn't notice and thus didn't buy. Also it called for thyme, I used parsley as its what I had, making it more italian then french. And for the topping it called for shallots as well, I had shallots but they had gone bad, so oh well.