Cherry tomato gratin

Gratin sounds so much genteel than casserole, doesn't it? You feel more sophisticated eating it, even though in some cases it amounts to the same thing. Both often wind up with crumb toppings, but these are definitely better crumbs than adorned the potlucks my youth, where garlic was never in any recipe not followed by the word salt.

Provencal cherry tomato gratin

Adapted from “Barefoot Contessa Foolproof” by Ina Garten. In case you can't tell, this is turning out to be my favorite new cookbook of last holiday's crop of gifts.

Ingredients

3 pints cherry or grape tomatoes

4½ tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1½ teaspoon salt

3 large garlic cloves, peeled

1/3 cup chopped parsley

2 cups fresh bread cubes

Method

In a ceramic baking dish (9 by 13 works, basically anything that gives you some depth), toss tomatoes with 1½ tablespoon olive oil, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper.

In food processor, whirr together garlic, parsley and ½ teaspoon salt. Toss in bread crumbs and pulse until crumbly. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons of olive oil to blend. Toss crumbs over tomatoes and bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until crumbs are golden and tomatoes are bubbling.

Rating: Tasty. Easy, fast fix, especially if you mixed up the bread crumbs in advance. The pretty color makes it a nice option on the plate when rounding out a menu that might otherwise be too pale or drab, like fish or pork.

It also works well at room temperature as leftovers. Speaking of which, if you haven't already heard, science has finally made the case for leftovers: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29629761