This dish is one of my favorites to serve in the winter. If I didn’t live in a house filled with male carnivores, I would be happy to make a meal of this—either by itself or with a tossed green salad. As it is, when I make this along with roast pork or chicken or beef of any kind, the guys I live with are happy and warm and filled up.
Zucchini Gratin
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
2 leeks, white part only, halved, cleaned and sliced (an onion will work just fine if you can’t find leeks)
1 tablespoon butter
Olive Oil, about 2 or 3 tablespoons
1 garlic clove, finely minced
3 medium zucchini, sliced in ¼ inch rounds
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a skillet, melt the butter and then cook the leeks until they are soft and transparent. Season them with a little salt and pepper.
In a baking dish (I often use a pie plate or an oval gratin dish), sprinkle the minced garlic and then spread the leeks over the garlic on the bottom of the dish.
In the same skillet, add a bit of olive oil and then lightly brown the zucchini slices over medium heat. This will take about 2 to 3 minutes a side, and you may have to do this in batches. Arrange the slices over the leeks and salt and pepper lightly.
Pour the heavy cream over the zucchini, sprinkle on the Parmesan and bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is nicely browned and the cream is bubbling a little bit at the edges. Serve immediately.
I would totally eat this all by itself for dinner too. Looks absolutely delicious!
I laughed at your About section because it sounds just like me. I could sit around all day and read food blogs very happily. If you get a chance, I hope you’ll take a look at min.
http://mignardise.blogspot.com
This looks fabulous! I’ll have to try it out soon 🙂
Thank you for stopping by Carrie….
I’ve made cauliflower and broccoli gratins before, never thought of using zucchini though!
And I am with you on the meat thing – one of the first dinners I made for my now husband when I was wooing him with my kitchen skills, was homemade chicken noodle soup (using my own homemade stock) and crunchy homemade artisan bread with herbed butter.
He loved it! I cleared the table, cleaned the kitchen, then came and sat down next to him to see what movie we wanted to watch. After about 5 minutes he said “so what’s for dinner?”
I have since learned that there needs to be meat on the side of his soup!
Thanks for the idea!
The soup story is great…I’ll tell it to the guys tonight–they’ll relate to your husband, while I’m still chuckling…
And thank you for the cauliflower idea – I’m a cauliflower roaster from way back, but a gratin sounds very yummy…
Oh my – this looks amazing!!! I must try this…
Thank you Dawn.
I have exactly 2 leeks, 3 courgettes and some leftover cream in the fridge…this is perfect!
Dear gourmet traveller,
Wonderful…I’m glad this matched your ingredients.
Umm, oven temp?
Good grief! The oven temperature should be 350 degrees. Thank you for taking the time to write Rebecca….