Vegetable Gratin

My sister-in-law Emily gave me this amazing cookbook for Christmas: Thomas Keller's ad hoc at home (family style recipes). It's full of delicious but complicated and/or time consuming recipes. I made two during spring break and am just getting around to posting. This one is definitely a repeater! Make it for a group though because it's so much better the first time than it is leftover. I love summer veggies like this and will make it again later this summer when we have squash and tomatoes from our garden.

2-3 Roma tomatoes

2 medium yellow squash

2 medium zucchini

canola oil

2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp chopped thyme

1/4 cup EVOO plus more for drizzling

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs (see below)

First make the dried bread crumbs as follows: cut away crusts from white bread. Tear into small pieces and pulse to coarse crumbs in a food processor. Spread on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Toss and toast for another 10 minutes until completely dried out.

Slice the vegetables as close to uniform size as you can, into about 1/4 inch slices. Heat some canola oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium low and add onions and garlic. Season with salt. Cook without browning, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, about 20 minutes. Stir in 1 Tbsp thyme. Combine squash and zucchini in a large bowl and toss with olive oil and season with salt. Drizzle tomato slices with olive oil and season with salt. Combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs, and remaining 1 tsp thyme in a small bowl.

Spread the onion mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer the veggies in the dish. I put the zucchini down a long row, overlapping the slices slightly, then did the same with the squash and tomato, repeating until dish was full. I did have some leftover squash and zucchini but one would have not been enough. Sprinkle cheese mixture over the top. Bake for 1-1.5 hours until the vegetables are completely tender and offer no resistance when pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and allow the gratin to rest for 10 minutes.