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By Wolfgang Puck, Tribune Media Services
How do you cook with the seasons, a popular culinary concept these days, when the seasons are changing?
One of my favorite solutions is to create a gratin of summer vegetables.
As you might know, "gratin" is French for crust, and it refers to the crispy golden brown surface that forms, usually with the help of cheese or breadcrumbs, on a shallow casserole when you bake it in a hot oven. Warm and satisfying, a gratin makes a perfect side dish or main course when the weather is cold.
The vegetables we associate most often with summer are the juicy vegetable fruits, so called because they're botanically part of the fruit family even though everyone cooks and serves them as vegetables: tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini. And at this time of year, you might still find some locally grown late-summer specimens in your farmers' market. But even if you don't supermarkets now carry a steady supply year round, ready to bring the taste of summer's savory-sweet produce to your table.
Once the shopping is done, you'll find my summer vegetable gratin very easy to prepare. First, you make a simple sauce from the tomatoes along with onion, garlic, and fresh herbs. Next, you cut the eggplant and zucchini into thin slices and saute them in olive oil until they're nicely browned and tender. (Take care not to undercook the eggplant, since its rich, meaty flavor and custardy texture only develops fully when it's well done.) Finally, you layer the slices with the sauce in a shallow baking dish and top the assembly with some mozzarella or fontina cheese and a little Parmesan before popping it into the preheated oven.
And there you have it: all the flavor of summer in a heartwarming dish that's perfect for autumn. Serve it alongside a roast or grilled chicken, lamb, or beef. Save any leftovers to serve cold the next day as an appetizer, or reheated and tossed with freshly cooked pasta. In fact, those leftover combinations are so good that I'll often make a double batch the day before so I'll have enough.
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients - Eggplant, Zucchini & Tomato Gratin
1/2 pound organic tomatoes
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into small dice
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme, oregano, or basil leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
3 medium slender Japanese eggplants, trimmed, cut diagonally into slices 1/4 inch thick
3 small organic zucchini, trimmed, cut diagonally into slices 1/4 inch thick
1/4 pound shredded mozzarella or fontina cheese, about 1 cup
1 ounce freshly grated Parmesan cheese, about 1/4 cup
Preparation - Eggplant, Zucchini & Tomato Gratin Recipe by Wolfgang Puck Recipe
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and place a mixing bowl filled ice water nearby. Meanwhile, with a sharp knife, core the tomatoes and, on the opposite sides, score a shallow X in the skin. With a slotted spoon, lower the tomatoes into the boiling water. Boil until the skins begin to wrinkle, about 30 seconds, and then immediately lift them out with the slotted spoon and transfer to the ice water to cool. With your fingertips and, if necessary, the knife, peel off the skins, starting at the X. Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally, squeeze out the seeds, and chop the flesh into small pieces. Set aside.
In a large saute pan set over medium heat, pour in enough oil to coat the bottom lightly. When the oil is hot, add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, until translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and, for a little spice, the red pepper flakes; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until they start to give off their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the herbs and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the sugar and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until almost no liquid remains, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the eggplant and zucchini slices on a clean work surface, season lightly with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
In another large saute pan set over medium-high heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom generously. When the oil is almost smoking hot, add enough eggplant slices to form 1 layer in and cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and blot with more paper towels. Cook remaining eggplant the same way, adding more oil as necessary. Then, cook the zucchini the same way, about 1 minute per side, removing them to a paper towel-lined plate.
In a shallow baking dish, spread half of the tomato sauce. Begin layering the eggplant and zucchini, overlapping slightly, along the outside of the dish. Continue until the dish is filled with eggplant and zucchini. Spread the remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle evenly with the cheeses.
Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
Place the baking dish inside a roasting pan; pull out the oven rack and place the pan on it. Pour hot water into the pan to come about halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Carefully slide in the shelf, close the oven, and bake until the cheese is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and lift out the baking dish. Let the gratin rest at room temperature for about 5 minutes before scooping it out with a large serving spoon.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck
The world-renowned chef with an extraordinary passion for food now shares that passion in Wolfgang
Puck's Kitchen. Puck makes great cooking easier than you ever imagined. He reveals how to turn common ingredients into uncommon masterpieces. Each feature includes both an expert tip and an easy recipe-exactly what you need to transform your home cooking from acceptable to delectable. Moves with color photos.
About Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck, in the eyes of food lovers and experts alike, is one of the most famous chefs in America and arguably the world. He has spawned a culinary empire that includes a fine dining group of 12 internationally acclaimed restaurants in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Maui; an extensive catering & events business with bases in Hollywood and Chicago, famed as official caterer to the Governors Ball following the Oscars; as well as Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc., a corporation that controls, licenses, and franchises the Wolfgang Puck brand in a wide variety of business activities, including casual Wolfgang Puck Cafes, fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Expresses, consumer packaged foods, cookware, book publishing, television, and the Internet.
For the first time, Puck shares his expert, easy-to-master approach to cooking in the newspaper arena through WOLFGANG PUCK?S KITCHEN, a newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media Services.
The Austrian-born Puck began his formal training at age 14, inspired by his mother, Maria, a hotel chef. He left Europe for America in 1973 at the age of 24, having already worked in the master kitchens of three-star French restaurants. In 1975, Puck moved to Los Angeles, and soon was both chef and part-owner of Ma Maison. It quickly became a magnet for the rich and famous, with Puck as star attraction. Since then, he has changed the way Americans cook and eat by fusing formal French techniques and Asian and California influenced esthetics with the highest quality ingredients.
After the 1981 publication of the first of his five cookbooks, Puck, in partnership with designer Barbara Lazaroff, opened Spago. Located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, it was an instant success and culinary phenomenon from its opening day in 1982. Although the original location closed in 2000, three years after the successful opening of Spago Beverly Hills, Spago Hollywood today is remembered internationally as a legendary haven for entertainment, political and social luminaries.
In 2000, Puck developed his own "Wolfgang Puck" television show, which began airing on the Food Network in January 2001. The show features Puck sharing his cooking expertise with a studio audience who joins him in his kitchen, along with field documentary segments in which he explores the vast and diverse world of food, from farms to artisan workshops to restaurants, and visits with such luminaries as Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Paul Bocuse. "Wolfgang Puck" was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show in 2002.
Puck also appears regularly on ABC's "Good Morning America," sharing his latest creations. He has been a guest on a multitude of other shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Entertainment Tonight," "ABC News with Peter Jennings," "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," "Frasier," and "The Simpsons." In 2001, the A&E Network featured Puck's life on its popular "Biography" series.
Puck and partner Barbara Lazaroff are actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, including their own Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation, established in 1982, which supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival to benefit Meals-on-Wheels.
Puck lives in Beverly Hills. He and Barbara Lazaroff have two sons, Cameron and Byron.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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