Vegetable Tian

Woops! Sorry for the unplanned hiatus. This early summer heat has me in a bit of a rut, cooking the same-old things over and over. I do have a decent stockpile of photos though so there are more recipes to come!

To make up for my break, I'm sharing this great side-dish from Ina. (I like to think the Barefoot Contessa and I are on a first-name basis) This is probably one of my very favorite side dishes, actually. It is time consuming but it is totally worth it and also relatively healthy. Great dish for when you're grilling your meat since you can prepare this, get it in the oven, then turn your attention to the grill. All of these veggies are in season during the summer too which makes it even tastier. Hope you enjoy!

Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Serves: 4-6 (although I love having leftovers of this!)

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet yellow onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 7-8 small round potatoes
• 2 medium sized or 3 small zucchini
• 5-6 ripe tomatoes
• few springs of fresh thyme
• 2 oz of gruyere cheese
• kosher salt, pepper and olive oil

Prep

1. Preheat the oven to 375°
2. Brush or spray a large casserole dish with oil.
3. Peel and finely chop your garlic cloves and peel and finely slice your onions. You can use your food processor to slice the onions if you like - we'll use it again for the potatoes.

4. In a medium-sized skillet, heat 2 TBSP of olive oil on medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add your onions and cook for 8-10 minutes until very soft and translucent.
5. Add your garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
6. Spread your cooked onion/garlic mixture on the bottom of your casserole dish.

7. While your onions cook, start slicing up your potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. I use the food processor for the potatoes and zucchini and then do the tomatoes by hand. I also like to cut as I layer because it's hard to tell how much you'll need. You may wind up with a few potatoes and/or zucchini chunks leftover (great for omelets during the week!)

8. On top of your onion mixture, layer your potatoes first. You want one solid layer of potatoes. They can overlap a little bit so you cover the whole layer. Add some salt, pepper and fresh thyme leaves to the potato layer. I'd estimate about 1/4 tsp of each.

9. On top of your potatoes, layer your zucchini and season just like you did the potatoes.
10. Layer your tomatoes on top of your zucchini and season this layer too. Drizzle the top of the casserole with some olive oil (about 1 TBSP) and cover with foil.

Cook

1. Bake the covered casserole in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.
2. While it's cooking, prepare the rest of your meal but also make some time to grate up your gruyere cheese.
3. After 35-40 minutes, take the casserole out, take off the foil and stick a fork through the casserole to make sure your potatoes are tender.
4. Top the whole casserole with your grated cheese. You just want a very thin layer of cheese - it is strong stuff.

5. Return your cheese-topped casserole, uncovered, back to the oven and cook for another 30 minutes until the cheese is browned on top. Let the casserole rest for 10-15 minutes or so and then serve! (with chicken-fried steak if you are so inclined)