Go to the Brown

Gratins are single-dish meals or vegetable side dishes with a browned topping. They can be as ordinary as macaroni and cheese, as funky as tuna noodle casserole, as creamy rich as potatoes gratin Dauphinois, as expensive and sumptuous as Dover sole with black truffles and white asparagus. Top them with plain buttered cornflakes, make them pungent with Gruyere cheese or rich with a sabayon of cream whipped with egg yolks. Lasagna is a gratin. So is eggplant Parmesan. Even sweet potatoes with marshmallows qualify.

Gratins are easy to serve, and although they are easy to prepare, the cook must take the time to thoughtfully assemble them. Even a gratin of leftovers can sparkle when care is taken.

It would be nice if we could make a gratin by cutting up a bunch of ingredients, throwing them in a baking dish and cooking them covered in the oven for an hour. Alas, this is not a good idea.

A worthy gratin is prepared by first giving the ingredients a preliminary cooking. Using uncooked pasta in casseroles (unless you’re using freshly made pasta) means a gratin that takes hours of baking--and any other ingredients will be overcooked. Vegetables need a preliminary cooking to rid them of their water (thereby avoiding a soggy mess). Even seafood and chicken can release enough juices to ruin a gratin.

A pleasing casserole wants a bit of sauce to moisten it, but remember that you don’t need a lot. Try herbs infused in cream or a sauce made from the juices of the main ingredients or a quick veloute or white sauce made separately.

To assemble the gratin, choose an attractive oven-to-table baking dish with a minimum depth of 3 inches. It should be just large enough to hold your ingredients. A dish that’s oversized for the quantity will dry out in the oven or require too much sauce. Butter the bottom of the dish or spoon in a film of sauce. Arrange your ingredients attractively, then moisten with more sauce. All this can be done hours before cooking, even the night before.

Finally, prepare the best part of the dish--the topping. Crusts are pleasing because they add a contrasting element to a dish, a textural counterpoint and a charming, nearly burnt flavor. Think of a marshmallow toasted on a stick over the campfire and you’ll get the picture.

Of the many options, the simplest is a bread crumb and butter topping. Use this when you’ve included a rich white sauce or a cream infusion to moisten the gratin. It soaks up a bit of the sauce, yet the surface still crisps and browns. The old box top recipe favorites--cornflakes and potato chips--can be substituted for bread crumbs. Grind them into particles as fine as “meal” and mix with melted butter.

Cheese, when it melts, forms a good crusty topping. The fat runs out of the cheese and turns golden, leaving the milk solids to become gooey and stringy. To use by itself, choose a good melting cheese like Gruyere, mozzarella, fontina or Cheddar. I like cheese crusts best when the casserole is moistened with a veloute, with a lightly thickened sauce or with tomato sauce.

The richest yet most delicate topping is sabayon, a mixture of half-whipped cream fortified with egg yolks. It browns to form a thin, delicate film, barely even a topping. Use this with fish and seafood gratins.

The crust of a gratin is special because there’s never a lot of it in proportion to what it’s covering. We savor it because it’s rare and it reminds us of a time when we were young and allowed to save the best thing on the plate for last.

COQUILLES ST. JACQUES

1/2 cup finely minced onion

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 pound sea scallops

1 cup whipping cream

2 egg yolks

Bring onion, mushrooms, wine, thyme, salt and pepper to boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Add scallops and cook 1 minute. Remove scallops and reserve on plate.

Add 3/4 cup cream to pan and continue to boil until liquid is reduced and becomes thick enough to coat wooden spoon, 7 to 10 minutes. Pour in any juices that have collected on plate with scallops and cook 2 to 3 minutes to maintain sauce-like consistency.

Meanwhile, make sabayon by lightly whipping remaining 1/4 cup cream, then beating in egg yolks.

Arrange scallops in broiler-proof dish just large enough to hold them. Pour over creamed cooking juices. Spoon sabayon over top and broil until browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

375 calories; 508 mg sodium; 256 mg cholesterol; 26 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 23 grams protein; 0.41 gram fiber.

FILLETS OF SOLE GRATINES AUX ASPERGES BLANCHES

8 skinless Dover sole fillets (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Salt

White pepper

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 cup dry vermouth

1 onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup whipping cream

3/4 pound white asparagus, bottoms trimmed, stalks peeled, cut into 1/4-inch rounds

1 black truffle, finely diced, optional

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup bread crumbs

Halve each fillet lengthwise. Place skin side up and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, then with parsley. Roll each fillet up and stand on end in oven-to-table gratin dish just large enough to hold them. Bake, covered, at 375 degrees 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Combine vermouth and onion in saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup cream and any juices from fish. Add asparagus and cook, covered, 3 minutes. Remove cover and cook to reduce liquid until lightly thickened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add truffle. Pour mixture over sole.

Lightly whip remaining 1/2 cup cream. Mix with egg yolks and spoon over fish and asparagus. Sprinkle bread crumbs over top. Broil dish until browned. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

587 calories; 264 mg sodium; 267 mg cholesterol; 41 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 28 grams protein; 0.99 grams fiber.

PEPPERS, FENNEL AND TOMATO TIAN

1 fennel bulb (about 1/4 pound)

1 yellow bell pepper (about 1/4 pound)

4 Roma tomatoes (about 1/2 pound)

3 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

2 shallots, finely sliced

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Halve fennel bulb from core to stem. Place halves, cut side down, on work surface and thinly slice from tip to core. Halve pepper from tip to stem. Cut out stems. Remove pith and seeds and cut pepper into thick strips. Halve tomatoes crosswise and squeeze out seeds.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in deep skillet over medium heat. Add fennel. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Transfer fennel to bowl. Repeat with pepper and tomatoes, adding butter as needed. After tomatoes are cooked, remove skins, then quarter each tomato half. Arrange fennel, pepper and tomatoes in alternating pattern in 1 1/2- to 2-quart gratin dish. Set side.

Meanwhile, cook garlic and shallots in oil 1 minute to soften. Sprinkle with flour. Add wine and rosemary and cook, covered, 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour mixture over vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 375 degrees until casserole is bubbling and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

229 calories; 742 mg sodium; 34 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.52 gram fiber.

ENDIVE AND HAM GRATIN

1 tablespoon salt

2 pounds Belgian endive (6 heads)

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup whipping cream

3 bay leaves

2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

Dash freshly ground nutmeg

Black pepper

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

12 slices ham

Bring pan of water with 2 teaspoons salt to boil. Add endive and cook, covered, 5 minutes. Drain. Halve each endive lengthwise and press out water using kitchen towel.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add endive, cut side up, in single layer and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Meanwhile, combine cream, bay leaves, thyme, nutmeg, remaining salt and pepper in saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and cook until reduced by 1/3, about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons butter, bread crumbs and cheese in small bowl.

Roll each slice of ham around each endive half. Arrange in baking dish just large enough to hold them all in one tightly packed layer. Spoon cream over top. Sprinkle with bread crumb mixture. Bake at 375 degrees until mixture bubbles and top browns, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

459 calories; 1,833 mg sodium; 140 mg cholesterol; 37 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 21 grams protein; 1.99 grams fiber.