Gratin

Chihuahua, Cotija, and Mexican crema give the dish authentic flavor, but Monterey Jack, French feta, and sour cream are good substitutes.

For the best flavor, use freshly made bread crumbs for this dish because they have a much fluffier texture. Place as many slices of white bread as will comfortably fit in the bowl of your food processor, and pulse the bread until crumbly. Any leftover bread crumbs can be placed in a resealable plastic bag and frozen for future use.

We used frozen pearl onions, but you could use fresh instead. To peel, place them in boiling water for 1 minute, and then let them cool slightly before slipping off their papery skins.

This savory dish is named for one of the streets in historical Charleston, South Carolina. Crookneck squash is a summer squash that is available year-round in certain regions. You can substitute zucchini or even a winter squash, such as butternut or acorn, depending on what’s in season in your area.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe my friend Deborah Madison shared in her book, Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen. It is absolutely gorgeous! Purple eggplant, red peppers, and golden saffron custard are a beautiful combination. Eggplant and red peppers are the perfect ingredients to cook in a wood-fired oven, as they both take on the wonderful smokiness of the fire. In this recipe, the eggplant is lightly sautéed in a skillet in the oven. The red peppers, tomatoes, and garlic are roasted whole, directly on the floor of the oven or in the embers, until the skins are blistered and beautifully charred. When cooled, they are skinned and seeded. Peppers roasted this way have a more complex flavor than when blackened on the stove top.

Scalloped potatoes was one of my favorite childhood dishes. I’ve added the classic combination of crab and spinach to this version and lightened the sauce a bit by using milk instead of cream. You can substitute shrimp or lobster meat for the crab.

This potato and bacon gratin was created by Rob Chalmers, a chef de cuisine at Lucques who had a great love of food and a big Boston attitude to go along with it. When he first told me about this gratin, I thought he was joking. That much fat in one pan might put even me over the edge. But lo and behold, bacon, potatoes, and cream really do taste good together!