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    The Classic Aioli
    Aubergine en Caton
    Carbonade de Mouton
    La Morue en Raïto
    La Soupe de Poissons
    Le Tian Provençal
    Les Huîtres Chaudes
    Muge en Papillote de Feuilles
    Pissaladière
    Poule au Pot
    Summer Fresh Fruit Tart
    Tarte Tatin aux Poires
    Tian de Courge - Baked Squash

tian finished
  The final tian.

recipes
Le Tian Provençal -
Mixed Summer Vegetables Provençal
The Tian is the name for the red clay baking dish of Provence, add zucc now primarily made in Spain. (We go down to Bisbal in Catalogne regularly on pottery expeditions). These dishes are now being exported to the States. They are wonderful for baking and roasting in the oven. Be sure there's enough liquid in the dish to prevent drying in the oven, and when you remove the dish you can place it directly on the table. It is handsome, and holds its heat.

Preparation time: One hour; Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 fat eggplant
  • 3 zucchini
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 1 bell pepper (color of choice)
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 bay leaves
  • thyme
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 2 tbsp grated cheese (in France, often it's often gruyère, or parmesian)
This recipe has two stages, some of the vegetables are pre-cooked, fried in olive oil, and others are put into the tian (the other name for a heavy clay pot) fresh.

Cut the eggplant in rounds and salt liberally, set aside to sweat for an hour. Cut the zucchini in rounds, the tomatoes likewise, set aside. Mince the onions, and chop the bell pepper in small pieces, set aside.

add zucc Take out a large frying pan and put in your olive oil, fry lightly the minced onions and bell peppers, simply melting them down, reducing them, to a smooth caramelized mixture. Remove with a slotted spoon and layer on the bottom of your oven-proof casserole dish. Now fry the zucchini rounds, a minute per side, in your oil. Put aside. If your eggplant rounds are nicely sweated and rinsed of their excess salt, tap them dry and then fry them a minute each side as well, set aside.

Crush and chop your garlic, and now put the entire tian together. Place the eggplant rounds in one layer, and then the raw tomato rounds, and a bit of the chopped garlic, crumbled bay leaf, a little salt, and then a layer of zucchini rounds. Start again till the tian is full and you've used all your vegetables. Sprinkle the top with the cheese and place in the oven for 30 minutes at 375F/180C

Should you hav left-overs, this dish reheats well the next day, you can add more cheese, and, if it's particularly juicy, you can put a layer of thick toasted country bread on the bottom, spoon your vegetables on top, and have a deep-dish vegetable pizza to remember!

Cuisine et Tradition School of Provencale Cuisine
Erick & Madeleine Vedel
Arles, France
33 (0) 4 90 49 69 20
actvedel@wanadoo.fr