I remember when I was a child. Eating vegetables at dinner was an ordeal that not only the children in our family endured, but that my parents had to face as well. The rule of the house was that we couldn’t leave the dinner table until we had eaten our vegetables. So night after night it would turn into a stare-down between the kids and their plates. The beets would grow cold and any butter that was on them would congeal into pink pools on top. In the long run, we always had to eat them… so all we were doing was prolonging the agony.
One night my older sister had a brilliant plan. We’d stuff the beets in our paper towel napkins, excuse ourselves to go to the bathroom one at a time, and deposit the beets into the trash container in the bathroom. Then, when my unsuspecting parents were otherwise occupied, we’d dig the beets out and toss them into the kitchen trash can, way down deep at the bottom. Excellent! My parents would never know! It worked like a charm.
Until, of course, Duchess, our German Shepard, figured out that we had thrown food away in the bathroom. She rummaged around, pulled out the paper towel wrapped beets and dug in – only to discover that she hated beets as much as we did. So she drug the paper towels out into the kitchen and deposited them into the middle of the kitchen floor.
So much for man’s best friend.
I don’t know when I started to enjoy vegetables. It must have snuck up on me, much to the amusement of my parents. Today, our participation in a Community Supported Agriculture program adds tremendously to our culinary experience. What we cook depends on what is in season and what we have on hand. It’s a fun challenge, and a healthy one, at that.
All of that being said, I still don’t eat beets. But I do enjoy making things like Summer Vegetable Gratin, which allows you to really use anything you’ve got on hand. This recipe was made completely from the produce of our CSA box, as well as our backyard garden.
Recipe for Summer Vegetables Gratin
Ingredients:
- 5- 6 small baby potatoes, sliced evenly and thin
- 2 tablespoons prepared pesto sauce
- 1 cup shredded kale
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 2 teaspoons garlic, chopped
- 1 tomato, pealed, seeded, diced
- 2 small yellow summer squash, sliced into rounds
- 2 small zucchini, sliced into rounds
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 375.
Coat casserole dish with cooking spray. Layer potatoes on bottom. Spread pesto on top of slices. Layer with part of the kale. Add fennel, carrots, garlic and tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with some of the parmesan cheese. Add another layer of kale. Add squash and zucchini on top. Season to taste, and coat evenly with bread crumbs and cheese.
Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, til topping is brown and crispy and vegetables have begun to pull away from edges. Remove from oven and allow to rest 15 mintues before serving.
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