Summer Vegetable “Non”-Gratin

This dish is also suitable for vegans.

What you need

• 700 g waxy potatoes, sliced
• Olive oil for frying the first layer
• 2 medium-sized onions, chopped small
• 2-3 peppers of different colour (looks nice), diced
• ½ cucumber or equivalent amount of courgettes, sliced
• 1 tblsp instant vegetable stock
• 4 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, sliced
• berbere (Ethiopianspice mix; I get mine from these folks)

• 3 cloves of garlic, pressed
• a few small pieces of butter
• 50-100 ml dry sherry
• salt and pepper
• optional: grated parmesan or pecorino romano (obviously leave this out for vegan dish)

What you do

1. In a pan that you can also put in the oven, heat up some olive oil and fry the first layer of the sliced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix the onions and the peppers and spread over the potatoes. Season again with salt and pepper.
3. Layer the mixture with the sliced cucumbers or courgettes and season with pepper and the instant vegetable stock.
4. Add a layer of tomatoes, seasoned with berbere and the pressed garlic.
5. Cover with the remaining sliced potatoes, season again with salt and pepper or berbere and add the butter flakes. 
6. Put in the middle of the oven preheated to 175°C.
7. After 15 minutes or when the potatoes at the top start looking crispy, evenly distribute the sherry over the top. If you use cheese sprinkle this on now
8. Bake for another 10 minutes, perhaps with a bit of grill heat.
9. Serve with a salad and some fresh bread or pita bread. 

 Remarks

This can also be served as a side dish, but then the portions should be a bit smaller.

If you want the dish to be done more quickly and the veggies to be still relatively al dente, pre-steam the potatoes. You may then get away with 15 minutes of baking instead of 30 minutes.

This  is a typical summer dish, lighter than a gratin because it contains no milk, cream or cheese – of which more in winter – and it really makes use of the cornucipia of fresh veggies from our garden. Feel free to experiment with what you can get in that department and feel free to add whatever you have in the garden or the fridge in the way of fresh vegetables. It is usually a good idea to put the smaller ones like peas or beans (best blanched or briefly steamed first as they take longer to get done than the peppers, courgettes or tomatoes).