Summer Squash Gratin

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This is my favorite summer squash gratin (okay, casserole) that I made when I lived in North Carolina. I have never had any desire to experiment with other recipes... it was that good.  Easy to make, great with pork!


Ingredients

1 stick butter

1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix

2 lb. squash, cooked

4 oz.diced pimento

2. finely chopped onions (small)

2 grated carrots

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

Directions

Melt butter. Add stuffing mix. Mix well. Line bottom of casserole dish with 1/2 stuffing miss, reserving rest for top.

Cook squash in salted water, drain and mash. Combine remaining ingredients and pour into casserole dish. Sprinkle top with reserved stuffing. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

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Tomato Zucchini Gratin AKA Casserole

Pin It Its funny, in my days this was called a casserole... my, my how times have changed! I don't know how I could have forgotten to post this. To me this is the quintessential summer casserole and when I make it, it reminds me of summer and of my days living in North Carolina. In that part of the country, everyone had a signature casserole!

I have many variations of this dish, which hopefully, I will be posting in summers to come. This is a great way to cook the last of this summer's fresh tomatoes and zucchini. I love to serve it with fish, accompanied by yellow rice. It is also very nice with grilled lamb chops.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients
2 pounds fresh zucchini
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 pound fresh, peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 garlic clove, pressed
Salt and pepper to taste
4 TB grated Gruyère cheese (or more to taste)
3 TB   grated Parmesan cheese (or more to taste)
1/4 cup bread crumbs, buttered


Directions
Wash and thinly slice zucchini. Melt butter in large skillet. Toss zucchini to coat with melted butter and cook over high heat, stirring continuously. Sprinkle with water and continue to cook until tender, yet firm. Remove from pan, and set aside. Pour tomatoes into skillet. Add basil, garlic, and salt and pepper. Cook until slightly thickened. Pour over zucchini and mix. Spoon into a buttered casserole or individual gratin dishes. Sprinkle with mixture of Gruyère and Parmesan cheeses, and top with buttered bread crumbs. Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove foil and brown crumbs briefly under broiler.

Variation

Wash and thinly slice tomatoes, zuccini and onions.  Butter a casserole dish.  Lay one layer of zucchini, one of tomatoes and pne of onions.  Salt and Pepper and chopped basil leaves.  Sprinkle generous layer of coarsely grated Cheddar Cheese.  Repeat so you have 2 layers ending with cheese.  Lightly sprinkle bread crumbs.  Cook covered 375 30 minutes and uncovered at 400 15 minutes until browned.

This is one of my most requested recipes!

Cauliflower Gratin...Gratin de Chou-Fleur

Pin It This is the time of the year when we Floridians try to keep our freezers as empty as possible because of hurricane season. If a storm hits our area, the chances of being without electricity for a week or two are pretty high, meaning most of what you have in your refrigerator will have to be thrown out. This means more trips to the grocery store and smaller purchases of things that need to be frozen.

We have been eating the remains of our freezer now for the last two weeks and today, to my horror, I found that there were only two anemic looking little pork chops left in the back and one beautiful head of cauliflower in the fridge. The pork was easy, marinated with garlic, onion lemon juice and Worcestershire Sauce and into the frying pan. But was it going to be enough for two hungry adults? Not a chance. So i decided to be a little bit more elaborate with the cauliflower and make one of my favorites, Gratin de Chou-Fleur.

The recipe below is for a full head of cauliflower which will serve 6-8 people easily as a side dish. I halved the recipe and had more than enough for the two of us as a hearty side dish, with plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.

I hesitated posting another cauliflower dish so soon, but seeing that the cauliflower puree was such a hit, perhaps this will be a sensation too!


Serves 6 - 8



Ingredients

One large head cauliflower, trimmed and separated into florets

Coarse salt

Freshly grated nutmeg

(2/3 cup) freshly grated Gruyere

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 tablespoons flour

2 Cups of milk

Fine salt and freshly ground pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Extra grated gruyere for top

Extra butter for the top


Directions


Sprinkle the cauliflower with coarse salt and steam for 15 - 20 minutes, until soft The cauliflower can be cooked up to a day in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container.

Set an oven rack in the upper half of the oven and preheat to (350°F). Transfer the cauliflower to a medium gratin dish.

Prepare the béchamel. Have the butter, flour, and milk measured and ready. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to sizzle, add the flour all at once and stir it into the butter with a wooden spoon or preferably, a wire whisk.(this is called a roux blanc). Cook for 3 minutes without coloring, stirring continually until the mixture turns creamy. Pour in the milk and whisk it into the roux blanc, making sure you don't leave any clumps on the bottom and sides of the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes, stirring with the wooden spoon or the whisk as the mixture thickens. Add the 1/2 Cup of the grated cheese.Set aside to cool for a few minutes

Season the béchamel with salt, pepper, and a whisper of nutmeg. Pour evenly over the cauliflower, top with the remaining cheese, adding more if necessary to cover the top generously, sprinkle with bread crumbs. top with a little butter and slip into the oven to bake for 20 minutes, until heated through and well gratinéed at the top; you can switch to the broiler setting for the 5 final minutes.

Let rest for five minutes and serve -- you may want to warn your dining companions that the gratin will be very hot.

Any leftovers can be reheated for 10 minutes at (350°F) the next day.