Today is day 3 of Operation Vegetarian.

Last night I dreamed of keema naan. For those that don’t know, that is an Indian flatbread filled with seasoned lamb. It is a heavenly, delectable thing. I my dream I had started eating a piece, realized there was meat in it and I wasn’t supposed to eat it, but ate it anyways, secretly, because I didn’t want it to go to waste. Then there was another incident in my dream where my dad was making a pasta with meat and at the last minute I remembered I wasn’t supposed to have any.

I think it is a bad sign to be having meat dreams on day 3.

But, in the daytime, so far it is fine. I’m certainly not hungry and I’m not really craving anything. However, I never noticed how much meat there is everywhere! It is funny, really. It must be weird for real vegetarians to go out to eat with people or make a sandwich in the lunchroom with people eating meat all around you.

Last night, I cooked my first main vegetarian meal. The last few days we’ve been eating sandwiches mostly and going out to eat. I made a Penne and Vegetable Gratin. I found this recipe on Epicurious.com. It was originally from Gourmet. It is one of the recipes that I found before this project started that I was most excited about. And the result? Super tasty. A grand success. And, it is just beautiful. This would be a great dish to make for company because it is just so darn pretty. All the flavors are delicate and well balanced. Very fresh tasting.

When I made it, I left the mushrooms out, because I don’t like mushrooms, but I don’t think I lost much in the recipe. Add them if you like them. Don’t add them if you don’t. Also, I used Panko breading and it was awesome. I love how crisp and crunchy it gets. I also like how you can buy it in resealable bags and always have some on hand. It is so, well, handy. I also found that if you start prepping all of the stuff that you toss with the pasta while the water is boiling and pasta is cooking, everything gets done at about the same time. The sauce only takes a few minutes to make, so you can make this recipe fairly quickly. But, I must say I was starving and it was painful to wait that half an hour for everything to bake up. So, start early or start when you aren’t already hungry.

Penne and Vegetable Gratin

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound penne or other tubular pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 3/4 pound vine-ripened tomatoes, seeded and chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 cup coarsely grated chilled Fontina cheese (preferably Italian, about 1/4 pound)
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped
• 1/3 cup packed fresh parsley leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped
  

For sauce

• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For topping

• 1/2 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a 4-quart kettle bring 3 quarts salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes. (Pasta will cook more when baked.) Drain pasta in a colander and rinse well under cold water. Drain pasta well and in a 2- to 2 1/2-quart gratin dish or other shallow baking dish toss pasta with zucchini, tomatoes, Fontina, and herbs.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Make sauce:
In a large heavy saucepan cook garlic and red pepper flakes in butter over moderately low heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and salt to taste and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and give off their liquid. Add flour and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add tomato paste, milk, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil, whisking. Simmer sauce, whisking, 30 seconds.

Pour sauce evenly over pasta mixture and shake gratin dish gently to coat pasta mixture with sauce.

Make topping:
In a small bowl with a fork stir together bread crumbs and oil until crumbs are evenly moistened.

Sprinkle topping over pasta mixture and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes. Cool gratin 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!