Tomato Bread Gratin

--Adapted from Ina Garten

You can poach or fry an egg to serve on top of this or just have it with a salad for dinner. We had it for dinner this week with beautiful, steamed artichokes and that was dinner. Leftovers are as good or better than the first round—if you can keep from eating it all.

Serves 4

3-4 cups bread from a good crusty loaf with a fairly open crumb (if you’re in Portland Grand Central Como or Levain is perfect or other French/Italian style bread—not sandwich bread), cut into 1/2-inch dice

2  - 2 1/2 pounds tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch diceor if supplementing with cherry tomatoes just cut those in half

3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup thinly slivered basil leaves, lightly packed

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan or other hard cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high. Add the bread cubes and stir so that they are evenly coated with oil. Cook cubes, tossing frequently, until toasty on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When the bread cubes are toasted, add the tomato mixture and cook them together, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the basil. Pour into a shallow (6 to 8 cup) baking dish and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm with a big green salad, a bean salad and/or a poached egg.