Yellow Squash, Zucchini, and Tomato Gratin

This year on Amazon Prime Day I bought a mandolin; not the musical instrument, but the thing that cuts food into evenly-sized slices.  It was on sale for something like only $11, which meant that I basically needed to get it.  And once I have a new kitchen gadget, I obviously have to use it.  

Since the season for all three main ingredients is upon us, I decided to try a version of this.  Yeah, it looks all fancy, and it would be a great side-dish for company.  But when I made it, I ate it as a main part of my meal and I had some pretty yummy leftovers for other lunches and dinners. It doesn't have to be fussy and the mandolin made my slices quickly, easily, and uniformly!  

In fact, the mandolin worked so well, that I'm psyched to try it with apples for fancy pies/tarts this Fall.    

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, sliced
• sliced mushrooms (1/2 or more of a package)
• 1 medium green pepper (optional)
• 4 cloves garlic minced or 2+ tsp already-minced garlic
• 2 zucchini, cut into slices
• 2 summer squash, cut into slices
• 4+ small tomatoes, cut into ¼" slices
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• Italian seasoning
• 2.5+ ounces goat cheese, crumbled (I used an herbed chevre from Trader Joe's)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• Panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I actually used a rosemary-infused olive oil, because that's what I had.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Spray bottom of 13x9x2 inch casserole dish with nonstick spray
3. Heat large skillet. Add onions and peppers, and saute.  After a few minutes, add mushrooms and cook until onions are translucent and peppers are soft
    
4. Add garlic and saute another minute
   
5. Transfer onion/mushroom/pepper/garlic mixture to casserole dish and spread to cover the bottom of the dish. 
6. Slice other veggies.
   
7. On top of bottom veggies, layer in zucchini, summer squash and tomato.  The original recipe called for one slice of each, but that is pretty darned fussy.  Go with a few and make it uneven. It'll still look great and it'll taste fine!  
8. Drizzle olive oil on top and season with salt, ground black pepper, and Italian seasoning.
     
9. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes
10. Uncover dish, sprinkle goat cheese, Panko crumbs, and Parmesan cheese on top and continue baking, for another 30-35 minutes, until browned.
       
11.      Serve warm

Rustic Fruits-of-the-Summer Galette

Once a year my book club--The Amazing Book Club of Doom--has a book/movie combo.  We read a book made into a movie (or vice-versa), watch the movie together, and discuss both.  In previous years it was Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and the classic 1974 film, or Ian Fleming's Casino Royale followed by the 2006 movie.  This year we read the graphic novel of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1, then watched the 2003 movie.

The other notable thing about this book/movie meeting is that we also usually eat pie.  I'm not sure why or where the pie-thing came from, 'cause it pre-dates my membership in the club.  But it is almost certainly our best meeting of the year.  This year there was pizza and sweet pies.  Someone brought a cherry, another brought blueberry/frangipane, and another was chocolate cream.  Someone else brought peach/cream mini pies made in wonton wrappers. They were all really awesome.

My contribution was a rustic fruit galette--Fruits of the Summer--and it gave me an opportunity to try a new technique.  It was incredibly easy, especially because I used a store-bought crust...and it turned out great!

[Oh, and I based my version on a recipe from a blog called Gimme Some Oven.]  

Ingredients:

• 1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie crust (I used Pillsbury)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on crust
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 3 cups of fresh fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used peaches, strawberries, and blueberries...because that's what I had in my house)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Unroll pie crust and put it out flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet
   
3. In a medium bowl or really big measuring cup, mix together fruit, sugar, and cornstarch. (The recipe I looked at suggested that if there's a lot of extra juice, you should pour the whole fruit mixture into strainer. I didn't have to this time, though.) 
     
   
   
4. Put the mixture in the center of the unfolded pie crust, with a 1 1/2- to 2-inch border.
   
5. Fold up the uncovered border over the edge of the fruit and pinch into pleats.
   
6. Brush the egg onto the crust, and sprinkle crust and top of fruit with sugar.
   
7. Bake in preheated oven until crust is lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
   
8. Serve warm or at room temperature (or, if you happen to have left-overs, you could serve it cold from the fridge).