This recipe, from Vegetables by Alice Waters, has become one of our favorites this summer. We serve it with salad, good cheese, and crusty bread (it’s yummy on the bread too).
Peel and chop the onions and garlic very fine. Stew them over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, until soft, in half the butter and olive oil, with the leaves of thyme, the bay leaf, and salt and pepper.
Slice the eggplants into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Slice the tomatoes slightly thicker.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter a shallow baking dish.
Remove the bay leaf from the onions and spread them over the bottom of the dish. Cover with overlapping rows of alternate tomato and eggplant slices. Each slice should cover two thirds of the preceding one. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, cover, and cook in the oven until the eggplant is soft enough to be cut with a spoon, about 45 minutes. Uncover for the last 15 minutes or earlier if the tomatoes are giving up too much liquid. Brush or spoon the juices over the top occasionally to prevent the top layer from drying out. This gratin should be moist but not watery. Serves 4.
