Summer Vegetable Gratin

We just finished our second of these gratins and every last bit got eaten. I think the bed of softened onions is such a brilliant idea. So far, I have made this without eggplant, using our own plum-tomato sized heirlooms, thyme from our garden, and zucchini and onions and garlic from local farms. The first time, I made it exactly as directed; the second time I sliced the veg thinner and cooked it for less time with really the same delicious result. It's a good sized gratin, yet we had only a small amount of leftovers which were actually even tastier the second day, so Chef Keller is right on that score as well.

Delicious! This gratin exceeded my expectations. The one criticism I have is that I found the directions for assembling it to be really confusing. It wasn't until after I realized that there was a photo on the previous page that I was able to put it together properly. It is important to make sure that the vegetables are sliced to the same thickness- I like them on the thinner side. I made this the day before I planned to serve it so it was a nice do-ahead dish. SO good and better than a ratatouille for using all of those summer vegetables.

A gratin is my favorite way to use up zucchini in the summer, although my version is a little simpler than this one. Not much, as this is a very easy recipe. I also didn't pay attention to the picture, but my vegetables were also much smaller and I ended up layering them in a spiral pattern. It was still great. I love the addition of sauteed onions and Japanese eggplant to the gratin. This recipe would make a nice light dinner on its own, or it goes very well with something simple, like grilled sausages.