Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. I try to update this space at least a couple of times per week, but recently it’s been at a paltry one. For those of you who read me regularly, I appreciate your forbearance! To those new arrivals at this space from Columbia, South Carolina, thank you so much for visiting! And so many thanks again to the lovely ladies at Mary & Martha’s (and particularly Ginny!) for the mention! You completely made my day.
Which was particularly nice, I must say, as life chez MF has been a little disorderly of late. Fortunately for us all, unloading emotional baggage (or, gag, complaining about the trauma that is moving house) is not the subject of this website. However, if you have some summer squash that needs unloading—preferably into the stomachs of others—you’ve come to the right place indeed!
After several months of the same, there is still so much summer squash in my world, and if you are a CSA or farmers’ market or any kind of live-by-the-seasons type, there may well be too much in yours as well. I’ve done the purée thing here, as well as the make-it-look-like-something-it’s-not thing. But these do not necessarily use up zucchini and its other cousins in greatest quantity. A very light gratin-type dish has always seemed a great idea to me, but I’ve been uninspired by the recipes I’ve seen, which may only mean that I don’t have too many cookbooks (Sigh – I don’t). Some of the preparations I read about involved sautéeing the squash before baking, and stove + oven + the dead of summer = no, thank you. Another was effectively a heated up purée. Yummy, but we’ve already done that here. I think a third involved a lot of cream. They all sounded wonderful, but they were not what I wanted. And there is a world of difference between food that is objectively good and food one really craves, especially when it is hot and humid. Don’t you think?
Either way, it seems that baking tightly packed, thinly sliced squash is not a method that works; the squash needs to be ‘cooked’ in some other way, shape, or form first. And salting does the trick. (Thank you, Sunday Suppers at Lucques.) The squash loses its water, thereby wilting a little. You heat it up in the oven with whatever seasonings you would like so that they will infuse and soften a bit, you make a crunchy topping, too, and the kitchen doesn’t get so very hot. And all that summer squash, unloaded. As for the emotional bits, I’ve found that a nice meal always helped.
Summer squash gratin with garlic + summer savory
Inspired by Sunday Suppers at Lucques
Ingredients: 2 lbs/1 kg zucchini or whatever kind of summer squash you fancy | kosher salt + freshly ground pepper | 1 clove garlic | several sprigs summer savory, thyme, or a pinch of dried thyme | olive oil | ½ cup breadcrumbs | ½ cup Gruyère or other Swiss cheese, grated | parsley, optional
Helpful tools: mandoline | microplane or box grater | gratin dish, about 8 in/20 cm in diameter
Slice the squash as thinly as possible into little coins. A mandoline is good for this. Toss with a ratio of 1 tsp kosher salt per 1 lb/500 g squash (in this recipe, you get 2 tsp!). Set in a colander and leave to drain for at least 20 minutes. Longer won’t hurt.
Mince the garlic as finely as you can manage; a microplane or the fine side of a box grater works great if you have one. Strip the leaves off the summer savory or thyme. In a large bowl, add about 2 tbsp olive oil along with the minced garlic and summer savory leaves. Swirl around to distribute well and set aside. In a smaller bowl, toss the breadcrumbs in another bit of olive oil.
When the squash is drained to your liking, press down on it to extract more of the water. Taste. It should not taste too salty, but if it does, rinse and dry well. Then add to the bowl with the olive oil, garlic, and herbs. Toss to coat well, grinding some black pepper in as well. Taste again for seasoning (the garlic will taste, well, like raw garlic, but it will soften in cooking – you are tasting for everything else), and adjust as necessary. It may need more olive oil, pepper, or herbs.
Now heat your oven to 400 F/200 C. Use the olive oil to lightly coat the gratin dish, and layer the zucchini in it. You can more or less dump in the bottom layers, but make sure the top few look pretty, with the slices gently overlapping. Top with the breadcrumbs and then the cheese. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Garnish with a bit of parsley, if you like, and serve warm.
Serves 8 as part of a larger meal, fewer if it is the main event
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You had me at “summer savory.” This is going in the To Make folder.
This looks really good — good enough for even ME to venture into the kitchen. I’m going to give it a whirl this evening but do need to know what is “summer savory” and where do I find it? Thanks, Ginny
Why thank you, Ginny! Summer savory is an herb that’s kind of earthy and stands up well to heat — a bit like thyme. If there’s a farmers’ market near you, you could probably find some. But thyme (either the fresh or the dried) is an entirely appropriate substitute here, too!
I have been wondering what to do with all that great looking squash I keep seeing in my local grocery store. This recipe sounds perfect for me. Love the idea of the garlic with the squash and the cheese on top. Thanks!