Zucchini gratin

Zucchini seem to be like rabbits: There's no such thing as just one. Well, unless you count that monster zucchini that some co-worker will bring in and put a sign by it that says "Free." It's clearly one that was hiding under a giant leaf and could be used to feed an army. It never seems to get any takers, but there's always at least one that shows up every year.

Naturally, the French have a solution for such excess. Here is Ina Garten's version.

Zucchini gratin

From “Barefoot in Paris,” by Ina Garten

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter, plus extra for topping

3 large onions (I used a mix of red and yellow)

2 pounds zucchini, sliced ¼ inch thick

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup hot milk

¾ cup grated Gruyere cheese

¾ cup fresh bread crumbs

Method

If baking immediately, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large deep skillet over low heat. Add onions and cook until tender but not browned, about 20 minutes. Add zucchini slices. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover and stir in salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook uncovered for another 5 minutes. Stir in flour. Add hot milk and stir until mixture thickens and flour is cooked. Pour mixture into a baking dish. The recipe called for an 8-by-10 pan, which I didn’t own, but any casserole dish will do in this case.

Mix cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top of onion mixture in dish. Dot top with a bit of butter. (At this point you can cover the dish and refrigerate until ready to bake. Can be made a day ahead. Bring back to close to room temperature before proceeding.) Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

Rating: Tasty. A repeatable use of an excess of zucchini. An easy make-ahead side dish. That said, I don’t know that I’d serve it to company because it lacks much in the way of texture despite the crumb topping. Those onions and zucchini have become very soft in that creamy, almost gooey sauce, and even with using a mix of onion and squash colors, it’s not very colorful. But it made a great comfort food side with chicken for supper.And I no longer have any uncooked zucchini in the house.