Squash Gratin

Thank you Ellen for making this recipe for Nicole. Thank you Nicole for making it for us. And thank you Ellen for emailing me a scan of an evidently well loved copy of the recipe so we could adapt and enjoy it with our sweet meat winter squash. It is wonderful to eat fresh out of the oven and as leftovers.

Squash Gratin adapted from Provence the Beautiful Cookbook

4 T olive oil

1 onion (from CSA)

1/4 sweet meat winter squash roasted, peeled, and diced (from CSA)

salt

2 T water

½ c half and half

2 eggs

½ c Parmesan, Asiago, Romano cheese blend

Pepper

Nutmeg

Place sweet meat squash on a baking dish "flesh" side down. Poke holes in skin with a knife. Bake at 300F for 30 min. Remove from oven. Let squash cool and then peel. Cut squash flesh into 1 inch chunks.

Heat 2 T olive oil. Add onion and cook until transparent. Add squash, salt, and water cover and stir often until squash has reduced almost to a puree about 30 min (I still had lots of squash chunks in the final product and liked the texture). Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F. Spray baking pan with oil.

In a small bowl, whisk together half and half, eggs, 1/4 c of the cheese, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir the egg mixture into the squash. Then pour into gratin dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 c cheese. Dribble 2 T olive oil over the surface in a criss cross pattern. Bake 375F 30 min.