Tomato, Squash and Eggplant Gratin Recipe (2024)

We French would call it a "tian", if you are looking for a different or more accurate name for the dish. Typically done with a row each of potatato/onion/tomato/zucchini, a shower of salt and freshly ground pepper, and a bit of broth at bottom, baked without foil so they can "gratiner", or crisp up at the edges from the heat.

This is a great dish. It showcases late summer garden veggies. I served it alone with a baguette and it was a complete meal. It does require lots of salt and pepper. It could benefit from a diced chilli pepper or some garlic if you want more heat.

I think this is improved with a light coat of grated parmesan, and either the rosemary OR the thyme instead of both. Just a personal preference of course. Easy, pretty and tasty in any case.

I make a dish just like this using potato instead of eggplant. Delicious!

More of a tian than a gratin, but WOW —this was incredible. Threw a fresh bulb of garlic (sliced off top and bottom) in the middle of the vegetables, and then squeezed out the garlic just before serving. Will make this again and again.

I just made this recipe for a second time, and here are my lessons learned. First, a “long, thin eggplant” could be misleading. You really want your eggplant and zucchini slices to be similar in size to your red onion and tomato slices, so pick out all veggies accordingly. Second, if you put onion slices in the large bowl with the other veggies and toss gently, the onion slices will fall apart. I suggest keeping onion slices separate so that you can easily include them in the tian. It’s delish!

Really flexible recipe. Easy to use as a summer "clean up the fridge or the extra CSA veggies" dish. Flavors are subtle and delicious but can also be amp'd up as needed.

I try to match the veggies to size. Makes for a neater presentation.

Husband and family loved it!Used a regular red onion, fresh rosemary and dried thyme and left off (i.e. forgot) the herb sprigs when cooking. I assembled the night before and then baked in the morning. Took the foil off at 45 minutes and baked for 45 minutes w/out foil on. There was still a fair amount of liquid in the pan but not too much. Lightly dusted with some Asiago cheese at the end.

This was not nearly as much work as I was afraid it would be and it looks so beautiful. More importantly, the flavors really meld when baked all layered together and the taste is fantastic. I sprinkled some basil over the top of mine right as I took it out of the oven.

I did not use the onion, and I peeled the eggplant. Also added some mozzarella on top. Was soo tasty.

This was delicious!

I've done this as a tian -- which calls for smashing the casserole down periodically (about every 20 minutes or so) while it's baking, and pouring off any water. I remember it being fantastic with a bit of goat cheese on top.

I made this last year for the first time with garden vegetables as a side dish and it was delicious! The tomatoes are finally coming in so I decided to try as a main, with just a salad, after having lunch out with friends. This time I added a little garlic and topped with Parmesan when I uncovered it. It was perfect for a light dinner!

I made this last night and used the whole head of garlic idea suggested by a previous commenter, as well as about a third of a cup of grated parmigiana over the top, and a very small amount of grated mozzarella we had left over from something. Cooked it about 45 minutes longer in the second, uncovered phase than was prescribed--just because of inattention and assumption it wouldn't harm the dish. Indeed the cooking length was just fine, not overcooked at all, and we LOVED the dish. Will do again

This was very pretty but extremely bland. I’d definitely recommend adding more salt and pepper than you think you need and taking a look at the suggestions here to add cheese. Made as per the recipe it looked great for instagram but was generally watery and not very interesting at all. Stacking the veggies seemed overall unnecessary.

I’ve made this a few times over the past 2 years and while tasty, it’s a pain to assemble. You need more tomatoes if each and every other slice of veggies needs a tomato slice in between. The eggplant soaks up the oil and the tomatoes fall apart if you toss them in a bowl with olive oil. Some of the veggie ingredients are by weight, others by size or number. Not helpful.

Added that bulb of garlic cloves one person suggested, and parmesan, as another suggested. My riff: brush with pesto rosso when it comes out of the oven. Heaven!

This dish looked great when served, but the flavor was very bland and, unlike its cousin ratatouille, the flavors of the vegetables did not blend together at all. I think in the future I will make the classic French vegetable dish.

Have made this a couple of times, for a couple of years, now. By the recipe. I so want to like it because I grow the ingredients (including the garlic) and l like MRS's recipes so much--her ratatouille has been my standard for years. But this doesn't even rate a "meh". Don't know what the problem is. I keep hoping it will be better, but won't do it again.

Very yummy! I used a lidded casserole dish with the lid on in place of foil and it worked just fine. Since other commenters recommended salting generously and I didn’t want it to get too soupy, I sweated some of the moisture out of the zucchini and eggplant by salting them in a colander for a bit beforehand and letting them sit and drain somewhat before mixing them in oil and herbs and assembling them. Quite a beautiful looking dish!

This was a bit too soupy for me. Feel like maybe I should've salted and drained the veggies first. (I used eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, onions and tomatoes.) But then the dish is no longer super easy. I also would use different herbs as well. And I did add some grated asiago in the last few minutes of cooking.

Tossed eggplant and zucchini slices in a bowl with oil and herbs but kept tomato and onion out so they didn’t fall apart. Topped it with a very fine layer of grated Parmesan before baking. While this is a beautiful dish when first baked, it’s the leftovers I make it for now. Great pizza topping with lamb and feta. Or for an over the top pasta sauce, throw about 1 1/2 -2C of left overs in a pan and caramelize, add 3c of tomato sauce (Samin Nostat’s Simple recipe) and purée. Divine!

I plan to try and decrease the tomatoes by a third. Seemed to watery for me, not carmelized enough.