Back during the holiday season I saw or heard in a news story about some scientific study which found that people tend to be less satisfied with gifts that they pick out for themselves; preferring the excitement and surprise of a gift chosen by others. I have no doubt that's a true, but just the same I was thrilled to find these individual-sized square gratin dishes under the tree on Christmas morning, even if I had shopped for them, bought them, and wrapped them for myself!
Fast forward 8 months, and I still hadn't used my gratin dishes, at least not for gratins. So imagine my excitement when I came across the NY Times recipe for Corn and Vegetable Gratin with Cumin. Yay! a chance to use my gratin dishes AND the bounty of corn I ended up with from my farm box (mistakenly ordered twice as much as I meant to)
n.o.e.'s notes:
- I made 1/2 recipe in 2 gratin dishes.
- In place of the 1.5 eggs for half the recipe I used one very large duck egg
- Although I was dying to use gruyere, I didn't have any and I did have jarlsburg cheese (1 oz)
- With all that richness, I felt pretty safe using skim milk.
- My garden had some wonderful, sweet red and green anaheim peppers
- I used wild garlic from farm box (bigger but milder cloves)
the verdict:Although I usually think of "gratins" as dripping with cheese, but this one was more of an egg dish - kind of like crustless quiche. Enough quibbling about semantics! This gratin was delicious, with a Southwestern accent from the cumin and the peppers. I was glad I had such a tasty recipe to inaugurate my gratin dishes...
Love your gratin dishes Nancy! I have so many types of dishes on my "want" list but it's hard to keep buying them when my kitchen cabinets are already bursting at the seams! Glad you found a recipe to break your gratin dishes in - it looks wonderful!
ReplyDelete*Note to self: get those gratins off the basement shelf and use (inaugurate) them! Great idea - These looks fantastic Nancy... it's turning Fall here, warm gratins say "comfort food" for sure. I love that they are "eggy" rather than "cheesy" - I imagine they're just as good with Jarlsburg and corn AND your fresh peppers! Merry Christmas! :)
ReplyDeleteLovely gratin dishes Nancy! (lol) Now we should have a little quiz and ask people what it is they get either for themselves or as gifts and can go on for months staring at it, before using it. For me it's fancy cupcake liners! LOL
ReplyDeleteLove the gratin, love gratins in general but this one with the cumin sounds like a winner!
That looks like a delightfully satisfying dish, I'm printing out the recipe right now! I've been eying some mini gratin dishes at Sur la Table, but I'm not sure how much I'd use them.
ReplyDeleteI love dishes like this, and I was just thinking that I haven't had enough corn this summer...so this is a gift to me as well! :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks very tasty. I made them last nite, one with and one w/out red pepper. Very Good. Thanks for pointing this one out to us.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo, too.
I really wish I would have seen that ya'll were making this before it happened! It looks so delicious and the gratin dishes look perfect.
ReplyDeleteThis looks so good.
Lovely gratin dish Nancy. Definitely comfort food indeed :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog too.
They look delicious and a perfect way to use your gratin dishes.
ReplyDeleteYUM. I like cumin. Great dishes! Glad you finally used them for their intended purpose.
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious Nancy. I got ramekins for Christmas last year and I keep forgetting about those! I would really like to try this.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you made this. I literally have a post-it note on my desk to remind myself to make this sometime before fall really hits. Always nice to have a review beforehand!
ReplyDeleteLoved, loved, loved this recipe...everything tasted so fresh and wonderful. Thanks for finding it and passing it on. I will be making it again in a few days as we have had requests!
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