DSC_0751, originally uploaded by scratchedcornea.
I meant to do a Made in Guelph this morning. I forgot until now. I posted these photos and then I twigged.
I have wanted to share this recipe on Blog Guelph for some time. I've also been wanting to have this recipe for a long time before that. Almost a year ago I tried it at a friend's house and since then I have been saying how great it was. One day last month the recipe landed in my in box, and well the rest is history. I think the original comes from one of those LCBO magazines, but I'm pretty sure she has tweaked it even from the recipe I am putting up. For some reason I don't remember eggplant in her dish that winter's night. I make it with the eggplant and it's delicious, but I might try it without next time.
Here is the recipe for the vegetable gratin. It looks like a lot of work, but is actually very simple and delicious. Crush your garlic into your oil, toss the sliced zucchini and eggplant with course salt and put in a colander to drain (10 minutes). Squeeze out any remaining liquid. Cut your bread and tomatoes. Sprinkle some of the garlic oil on the bottom of your pan. Lay your bread on that. Drizzle some more garlic oil on the bread and sprinkle with salt, pepper and some basil leaves. Toss the drained zucchini and eggplant with some garlic oil and arrange the zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes over the bread. Sprinkle thyme leaves and salt and pepper. Drizzle the remaining garlic oil over the finished project and bake at 400 until the bottom of the bread is browned and toasted.
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a colander, toss the eggplant and zucchini with 1 teaspoon salt and let stand for 20 minutes. Drain well and gently squeeze out any excess liquid.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir the olive oil with the garlic. Coat a 9-by-13 inch baking dish with 11/2 tsps of the garlic-infused oil. Tear the bread into 2 inch pieces and line the bottom of the baking dish with bread, fitting the pieces tightly together. Drizzle the bread with 2 tbs of the garlic oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the bread with half of the basil.
3. In a medium bowl, toss the eggplant and zucchini with 2 tbs of the garlic oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the tomato slices with salt and pepper. Arrange the eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes over the bread, overlapping them if necessary. Sprinkle with the thyme leaves, salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining garlic oil.
4. Bake the gratin for about 40 minutes until the vegetable begin to brown and the bottom of the bread is golden brown. Remove the vegetable gratin from the oven and let stand until cooled slightly, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining basil, cut into pieces and serve.
Make ahead: The gratin can be baked up to 2 hours in advance. Reheat in a 350 degree oven or serve at room temperature.