Yet another squash-and-tomato dish.

Yes, it's that time of year, when you neighbors won't answer the door for fear of having a wiffle-ball-bat-sized zucchini thrust into their arms, when the receptionist at your local chiropractor's office says thanks, but no thanks to the lunch sack of tomatoes you thoughtfully brought to your appointment (most assuredly not to influence the favorable timing for future visits) pointing to the three already taking up valuable desk space, when even your resident rodent and deer pests tire of the offerings and repair back to the forest to browse on wild berries and seeds.

If you are, as I am, experiencing diminishing results in your efforts to share your garden surplus now is the time to reach for your great-grandma's recipe box. Because it has been only fairly recently that it's been possible to eat produce out of season, older cookbooks and recipe collections are a treasure trove of use-it-or-lose-it ideas for whatever vegetable or vegetables is most vexing at any given moment.

I remember my paternal grandmother making a dish similar to the one above. I couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 when my family visited her at her home south of San Francisco and I learned what tomato surplus really means. She and her husband planted probably a hundred or more tomatoes of varying kinds on their farmette (along with all kinds of nut trees, fruits, berries and more - a great place to visit as a kid, and all the better with a grandmother who loved to cook and preserve) and every night we ate some variation of this, a kind of tian.

The basic procedure is simple and one I've remembered for these decades after my grandmother's initial lesson, and even better it can be utilized with virtually any vegetable. For the dish pictured above, I sliced up two largish yellow squashes and a number of roma tomatoes and layered them in the gratin dish along with maybe a quarter cup of fairly finely diced red onion and a couple cloves of diced garlic. Next, I poured a bit of chicken broth over and topped with about half a cup bread crumbs (I'm one of those cheapies who make my own with the stale remains of my bread, biscuits and pizza doughs) seasoned with a good amount of black pepper, some salt and basil and a few tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese.

Baked in a goodly hot oven (maybe 375 or even 400) until the veggies are soft and the topping well-browned, this is a delicious addition to any summer meal or even a meal in itself with a salad and a glass of decent white wine.

We've had tian in one form or another several times a week all month. If you've got eggplant, potatoes, squash, onions, herbs, tomatoes or, you know, whatever, you can do what you like and it will still be delicious.

In other news, we've fired the realtor and the new prospect for representation is here so I've got to run. A friend once told me that selling a house is the most painful thing you can ever do yourself willingly and for which there is no "it was all worth it" ending. At first I thought she was being a bit dramatic, but lately I'm definitely inclined to believe her.