FEAR ME, FOR I AM GRATIN.

olive oil
maybe four potatoes
three big summer squash/zucchini
a big onion
a bunch of spinach
half a bunch of chard
a lot of fresh basil and parsley
mozzarella and romano
salt and pepper
some more fresh basil and parsley for garnish

Cut it all up!

- Slice: potatoes, squash.
- Roughly dice: onion.
- Wash, destem and chop: spinach, chard, basil, parsley.
- Cube: mozzarella (or you can chop up some pecans or other tasty nuts, or vegan cheeses).
- Shred: romano or other grating cheese.

Get out a huge casserole dish. Pour a little olive oil into the bottom and spread it around with your hands.

Now it is time to layer!

Make layers of potatoes, squash, onion, all the greens, and mozzarella or nuts. After one runthrough, salt and pepper the top of your last layer. Sprinkle with a little olive oil too. Then make a second layer of all the business.

This should be enough to fill your dish to TOTALLY BURSTING. Really cram it in there! The greens will reduce!

Spread your romano over the top of the dish. More nuts work here too.

(Since we have some fairly wet squash as a major ingredient, I didn't add any liquid at all: the squash will express out all you need. Normally you'd use some milk or broth in something like this, though.)

Bake at 350F or so, rotating halfway through cooking, until the whole business is cooked and bubbling and browning on top. This should take a half hour or so.

Eat it! Make sure you get a lot of the crispy greens, because they are awesome. Rip up some more basil or parsley to scatter over the top.

Eat it with pieces of good sourdough toast, or with pita or flatbread. You will want some bread or something to soak up the tasty juices in the bottom of the pan, even though there's also a bunch of potato in here. Do it!