Yellow squash, zucchini, and tomato gratin

I think that summer squash might be my favorite vegetable. At the height of the season last year, there were several days when I had four or five servings of squash. Yes, perhaps I need to seek help. At my grandmother's house, no meal is complete without a serving (or 2 or 3, in my case) of yellow squash that's cooked to complete mush. It's also great sauteed, baked, grilled, or even raw. In my effort to eat more seasonally this year, I tried to do without summer squash all winter. It was hard, and I gave in a time or two, but overall I did a good job of resisting the temptation. When I arrived in Florida last week, though, I was ecstatic to learn that squash is already in season. In fact, the yellow squash, zucchini, and tomatoes in this dish were all locally grown!

Yellow squash, zucchini, and tomato gratin (adapted from Pinch My Salt)

2 medium yellow squash, sliced into 1/4" slices

3 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4" slices

3 tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp olive oil

10 shakes of Tabasco*

1 tsp dried basil

pinch of salt

1/3 cup shredded parmesan

*Nicole at Pinch My Salt recommends green Tabasco, but somehow my Dad (king of the hot sauces) didn't have the green kind or any other jalapeno-based sauces, so I used the original version

Combine all ingredients except for parmesan in a large bowl. Then pour into a lightly oiled 9x13" baking dish and top with parmesan. Bake at 425 for 35-40 min, until squash is tender. Serves 6.

This was fabulous, and I made it again tonight. In fact, I enjoyed it so much the first time that I packed some for a morning snack for the plane ride back to Michigan (word of caution: you will get

strange looks when eating this and black bean salad at 9 am on a plane, but it seemed completely normal after eating breakfast at 4:30). Hopefully soon I'll be able to make this with zucchini and tomato from my own plants (cross your fingers that they get enough sun)! I'm submitting this to Weekend Herb Blogging, a great food blogging event that was originally created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, and is now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once (who happens to also be hosting this week).