Eggplant, Squash and Tomato Gratin
This summer and fall recipe is all about the vegetables from your garden, the farmers market or your local farmstand: squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and corn.
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini or summer squash
- 2 Patti pan or other round squash
- 2 medium eggplant
- 3 or 4 Large shallots
- 2 large yellow or 3 medium cippolini onions
- 3 ears of corn
- 2 large fresh tomatoes
- 1/2 lb Taleggio
- 1/2 cup Shredded basil
- 14 0z Marinara sauce jar or homemade
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and/or Romano
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Get the freshest squash and eggplant you can: Source from garden or farmers market if possible. Slice squash and eggplant as well as the two onions about a 1/4 inch thick slices. Lay out the slices on large cookie sheets or half-sheet pans. Salt and pepper one side of each slice and brush lightly with olive oil. While you are prepping the vegetables, preheat your indoor or outdoor grill. (Note: If you don't have either type of grill you can roast everything can be laid out on sheet pans and roasted in a 425° oven until tender with some charring.)
- Grill or roast the vegetables until just beginning to get tender (they will cook more in the casserole). Grill on one side until you you see moisture begin to show on the upper surface. That is an easy way to know it is time to flip each slice of eggplant and squash is to look for little beads of moisture appearing on the surface of each slice. Depending on your grilling equipment you may have to do the grilling in several batches. Stack all of the squash, eggplant and onion on one of the sheet pans or on a plate.
- Saute in a little olive oil the chopped shallots and the corn kernels which has been cut off the cobs. Salt and pepper while they are sauteing.
- To assemble the casserole, brush a little olive oil on the bottom of an 8 by 10 casserole dish. Spread a layer of marinara on the bottom of the dish. Layer squash, eggplant, onion, and corn/shallots (four layers); place a layer of fresh tomato slices and top with tallegio. Spread another layer of marinara, and do the same four layers plus fresh tamato slices and tallegio. If you have enough of everything, repeat one more time. Top the gratin with the mixture of panko and grated cheeses. You can stop at this point and refrigerate, say you are doing the prep and assembly on Friday for a Saturday evening dinner party.
Notes
Note: This is great served to guests with a basket of crusty bread and butter. You can also make a green salad with fruit (blood oranges or apples/pears) and a light vinaigrette. Since the gratin is quite rich, a light touch with the salad is best. A lighter desert is also in order. Cut up fruit with a little creme fraiche and a biscotti is one possibility.
If you want, you can leave out the corn. It does tend to give a sweeter note to the gratin. But, if you are going to leave out the Taleggio, the corn should probably stay in.
Another variant is to add layers of ricotta
If you want to do this for vegans, you certainly can skip the Taleggio and substitute nutritional yeast for the parmesan/romano cheese that you mix with panko break crumbs for the topping.
This recipe is after all about the vegetables