I grew up on this dish. Every summer, my mom would head out to the garden and bring in a huge zucchini and a couple of perfectly ripe tomatoes. She’d slice them up and throw them in a baking dish with some sweet onion, and then she’d top it all with a good amount of grated cheddar. Then she’d bake it until the veggies were tender, the cheddar oozey, the family happy.

It seems like such a simple dish (and it is), but I’ve screwed it up an embarrassing number of times. Basically, the pattern goes like this: I forget important details from season to season, fail an attempt (bake it covered, for too long, not long enough …), and then I call my mom once again to ask for directions.

So I’m actually kind of proud that I finally remembered it all on my own this year. And it’s just as I remembered: the dish my mom would whip up every other day come August, a sure sign that we’re smack in the middle of the dog days of summer.

And now I’m going to save the recipe for posterity in this here food blog so that I never, ever forget. Yes, I want to share this wonderful little dish with you, but I’m also pretty happy to have it written down for good.