Zucchini-Tomato Gratin

Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables. It cooks up tender and sweet, and goes with just about any flavor you can think of. As a bonus, its really low in calories (about 30 calories for a medium sized one) and well priced (I paid 50 cents for one). I googled "zucchini recipes" and after sifting through a dozen or so, I found a recipe for Zucchini Tomato Gratin at lohudblogs.com which I used as a template. This is something that I do occasionaly when cooking; I find a recipe (or two, or three) for a dish and then use the main idea of the recipe but don't follow it exactly. Sometimes its because I don't have the ingredients on hand, but in this instance, I was just feeling adventureous. My gratin turned out pretty good, although it was a bit salty. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but I felt like it would have been just as delicious with a smidge less salt. When salting the vegetables, I didn't take into account the saltiness of the parmesan cheese which I would be adding later, a rookie mistake. If I was to make this again, I would only salt every other layer of vegetables, rather than each one, or skip the parmesan. Also, the cheese got a little more brown than I wanted it, so I would reduce the ten minuted after adding the cheese to five. I paired this dish with oven fried chicken and sweet corn.

Zucchini-Tomato Gratin

1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/8 inch slices

1 tomato, sliced into 1/8-1/4 inch slices

1/2 of a medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 T vegetable oil
2 T mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 T parmesan cheese, shredded
Salt, pepper, and italian seasoning to taste

Spray bottom of a small baking dish with non-stick spray. Layer half of tomatoes in bottom of pan, season with salt and pepper. Combine onion and garlic, sprinkle half of this mixture evenly over tomatoes. Spread half of zucchini on top of onion mix, season with salt and pepper. Repeat layers. Drizzle oil over all, making sure to let some drip down to the lower layers. Place in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheeses and italian seasoning, then return to oven for 10 minutes more.