Although this gratin is all about the seasonal vegetables, best quality cheese and good, fresh breadcrumbs bring it all together into something more than the sum of its parts. In something so simple it is imperative to have tip-top ingredients – vegetables, cheese, bread. And you can eat a good portion of it without feeling like you need to take a week off to digest it. But I would stick my neck out and say that it is just as nice, but in a different way. This is a stripped-back, easily-made gratin, far removed from something you might pay good money for at a nice restaurant. Miss R’s track of the week: Izzy Bizu – White Tiger Two years ago: North African Okra Tagine with Spiced Crispy Tofu Last year: Roasted Fruit with ‘Baklava’ Crumble Comfort food without the comfort waistband. But none that will require the wearing of Lycra®. As the autumn and winter vegetable season deepens and varies I will bring you a few more gratin ideas, each with different herbs and different toppings. This is one of numerous vegetarian gratin ideas that I have been playing with lately. Seasonal is also cheaper and more nutritious, too. Poor-quality vegetables have nowhere to hide, unless it is behind a heart-stopping cloak of double cream and cheese. Gratins are simple, and reliant on the inherent taste of the produce. Out of season, shipped-from-goodness-knows-where vegetables will stand out – for all the wrong reasons. I like to think it balances out the calories of a creamy gratin, but of course it sadly does not. This also goes for if making a (slightly) creamier version. This is just a personal preference, but for the most part I like to balance out sweeter vegetables – like pumpkin – with something green. Incidentally, tian is not only the name of the actual cookware but also describes Provencal vegetable gratins. I was lucky enough to pick up a French tian at TK Max, but any heavy, shallow, wide dish will do – Pyrex is good. The second consideration is the cooking vessel. For most summer vegetables you can just layer up with cheese and shove in the oven. If you use all hard vegetables – like potatoes and celeriac – they will need a little stock or milk added to the dish. During the cooking the vegetables will collapse, release their natural moisture and, crucially, intensify their flavour. Then it is just a matter of deciding which cheese and herbs you fancy, whizzing some breadcrumbs (fresh is best but who can say no to panko) and proceed to build a mini fortification of vegetables. Lightly roast, saute, griddle, steam, boil – whatever is your preference. Ignore me if you are already a keen gratin aficionado.įirst of all, the easiest way to approach a healthy (ie not swimming in double cream) gratin made with harder, wintery-type vegetable is to lightly cook them beforehand. None of these are crucial but I think they help give the best result. Gratins are a cinch, especially if you bear in mind a couple of things. It is with this thought – and the unvarnished truth that the simplest way to parlay veg into a family-friendly recipe is to stick it in a gratin – that I made this healthy vegetable gratin. I do however love the idea of layering vegetables with a bit of cheese and herbs, and tucking in with a big spoon. I get up to change into stretchy trousers. I have a similar relationship with mac and cheese. Not even if it is married on the plate with a blameless green salad. Although I sometimes crave a big splodge of cheese-saturated carbs I can’t say I would want it as a meal. That’s also an incredibly calorific side dish: A meal it ain’t. A dish so rich that when you dig out a lush spoonful it is umbilically attached by a stretch of gooey cheese. When I think of gratins (more often than you might imagine) I think of a dense pile of creamy, cheesey thinly sliced potatoes, bubbling and browned.
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