There's a plenty: a BIG vegetable gratin

And hello all. Annalena, back from her travels, and she promises not to go too far for a while.  She was in France, and her beloved San Francisco, to go to some wonderful, WONDERFUL  weddings.  She is still processing them, and she loved them both. 

Just before she left, she cooked dishes to use up many of the vegetables in her fridge, and some of the fruit.  She's giving you these recipes, hoping that you will make them, including a shot at making your own jam- which is NOT as hard as you may think.   

We begin with a wonderful vegetable gratin, which makes a TON of a dish.   You can eat this for several meals, or share it, and you SHOULD share it, because it's very good. 

We begin with a fresh baguette.  FRESH ragazzi.  You may be reading soon, of Annalena's adventures in baguette land, because in France, well.. she fell in love with these again.   Now, what follows sounds easy, and it is not.  It is time consuming, and probably the most difficult thing you're going to do.  You're going to turn a baguette into big, fluffy crumbs, first by slicing it into pieces:

 And then, laboriously processing them, with the pulsing button, in your food processor, until you get big, wonderful, fat, soft crumbs.  This WILL take a while, and you have to be attentive, because you COULD burn out the motor if you are not:

After you have made the crumbs,  grate up about a cup of a strong cheese, of whatever persuasion you like, and mix it with the crumbs.   Add 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil, and then put the stuff aside, because now, we're going to cook.

The first step of this dish, involves making the base.  Here are our base ingredients:

What you have here are four garlic cloves, gently crushed, a couple of red peppers, chopped, and 2 yellow onions, sliced.  ALL of these available at your Farmers' Market, and in peak season, too.   You heat up another 1/4 cup of olive oil, add those vegetables with a pinch of red pepper flakes (some fresh herbs wouldn't hurt either:  thyme or rosemary come to mind).  Cook this on a very low flame for 20 minutes or so.  You'l get some browning, and a lot of reduction:

While these veggies are cooking, prepare some others.  First, let's start with a pound and a half of tomatoes.  That's not as many as you may think:

That, ragazzi, is a pound and a half of tomatoes.  Slice them into thick rounds, and put them on some paper towels, to absorb some moisture:

You're hearing Annalena say "put this to the side." Well, you're going to do this again, and leave them for about 15 minutes.  But, as our god Stephen Sondheim said  "bit by bit putting it together."  And we are.  

We now move to our zucchini, or more properly, our "mixed summer squash."  You can use whatever  you have here, and try to use different colors.  Slice up a 3 pounds of them, and then toss them with  yet another 1/4 cup of olive oil, and either the torn leaves of one small bunch of basil, or a few tablespoons of pesto.  That is what Annalena used here;

NOW we begin putting things together.  Remember those onions and peppers?  Well, pile that squash right on top of it:

(you can see the onions peeking out a little bit at the top right). Put this all in the oven, and bake it, at 425, for 30 minutes. It will not change much:

Now, while this squash/onion mixture is cooking, take those tomatoes,  and put them in a big pan with YET MORE olive oil!  2 tablespoons, and cook them at a low temperature for 8 minutes or so:

Unfortunately, Annalena did not take a picture of the cooked tomatoes.  They get softer than above, of course, but they keep their shape when you cook them for only 8 minutes. 

FINAL ASSEMBLY COMING UP!  Take those cooked tomatoes, and put them over the squash, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  And finally, pour those soft  breadcrumbs mixed with cheese over the tomatoes.  And... yup, you guessed it:  2 tablespoons of olive oil over all.  Turn the oven up to 450, put the whole thing in, uncovered, and bake for about 30 minutes

Here's how it goes in.  Now, after 30 minutes, it will be crisp, but not pretty.   You want pretty?  Turn on the broiler.  Two minutes:

And you've made a vegetable dish that can serve an army.  Seriously, ragazzi, Annalena served ten people with this, and she could have served more.  But she gave big portions. After all , "it's vegetarian, " right.  (Incidentally, you COULD leave out the cheese, and make this vegan.  Up  to you).

The clever cooks out there will see room for variation.  Annalena applauds you.  Do it once or twice while the summer vegetables are still at their peak.  Seriously, ragazzi, early fall is the BEST time of year for produce.  You could very easily be overwhelmed by the variety available.  Use them while you can, because we will all be missing them in the winter.  Now, go get that baguette, visit your farmers market, and TELL ANNALENA ABOUT YOUR TOASTY GRATINS!!!!