Recipe - Mediterranean Mixed Vegetable Gratin

1 pound Fresh plum tomatoes
One half pound Large red bliss potatoes
1 lg Red onion
1 lg Red peppers
1 lg Yellow pepper
One half pound Small Italian eggplants
1 lg Fennel bulb
1/3 cup Olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, finely
chopped
One fourth teaspoon Fresh mint leaves
1 cup Bread crumbs
One fourth cup Grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

Wash all of the vegetables, drain and dry.

Slice the tomatoes into rounds 1/4inch thick. Cut the potatoes, leaving
the skin on, into equally sized rounds. Peel the onion, leaving whole, cut
into thin round slices.

Cut the pepper in half, remove and discard the seeds and ribs, and cut into
a thin julienne.

Leave the skin on the eggplant and cut into thin round slices.

Trim the top of the fennel bulb and slice the fennel on a vegetable slicer
into thin slices beginning at thd base and continuing up to the top.

Using a large ceramic vegetable gratin dish, brush the bottom of the dish
with some of the olive oil. Lay the cut or sliced up tomatoes on the bottom of the
dish in single layer overlapping where necessary. Se ason this and each
succeeding layer of vegetables with salt and pepper as you go to ensure
balanced flavors.

Lay the potatoes on top of the tomatoes, season and continue with a layer
of onion.

Combine the peppers and lay the peppers over the onion layer. Next add a
layer of eggplant and finally a layer of thinly cut or sliced up fennel remembering
to carefully season each vegetable layer.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the top layer of vegetables and
place the dish into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.

While the gratin is baking, combine the remaining olive oil with the
garlic, mint, bread crumbs, cheese and season with a fresh grind of black
pepper. After the vegetables have cooked for 45 minutes, remove from the
oven, sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top and return to the oven
for another 15 minutes or until the top browns to a golden color.

From Michael's Place Show #ML1A33

Recipe by: Michael Lomonaco Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #579 by "Master
Harper Gaellon" gaellon@inch.com on Apr 19, 1997