François de MélogueProvencal RecipesSide DishTaste

Easy Vegetable Side Dish Provencal Tian

Confusingly, the word tian has two meanings: it is both an earthenware dish and whatever you are preparing inside of your tian. Every French person I know has their family favourites. This tian was ours. It is super colourful and will be the star of any meal.

Confession Time. I planted way too many tomatoes this year and looked for the best, most tasty way to use them. I ended up making a Provençale Vegetable Tian – which is a super healthy vegetable casserole. You may remember the hit 2007 movie ‘Ratatouille” about a rat who yearns to be a renowned chef.

Here is my video (and the garden).

This recipe is suitable for vegetarians, and if you eliminate the parmesan cheese, it is vegan-friendly too.

Provencal Vegetable Tian

Provençale Vegetable Tian

Chef François de Mélogue
A vegetable tian is quick to prepare. You can use a selection of fresh vegetables that you have on hand. Enjoy my traditional Provencal version below.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine French, Provencal, Vegetarian
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Japanese eggplant cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
  • 10 plum tomato(es) cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil split among a few steps
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 sweet onions thinly sliced
  • 2 Bell Peppers seeded and thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves smashed (optional)
  • 10 Fresh Basil Leaves roughly chopped
  • 4 thin zucchini (courgette) cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
  • Lay the eggplant slices onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake 10 minutes, just until it softens.
  • Lay the tomato slices onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake 20 minutes, just until the tomatoes start to shrink a little.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the basil and cook for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread one-quarter of the mixture in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
  • Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Blanch the zucchini for 30 seconds; use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water.
  • Arrange the slices of zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes in alternating layers over the onions and peppers, with the slices overlapping. Continue making layers until all the vegetables are used. Sprinkle the dish with Parmesan and bake until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Notes

To Salt or Not To Salt? I do not salt eggplants before cooking them. A Japanese chef friend taught me to soak them in cold water instead. Where you think they would be soggy - they aren’t. All the inherent bitterness washed away.
Keyword Eggplant, Roasted Vegetables, Tomatoes, Vegetarian Dish, Zucchini
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Earthenware = Healthy Cooking

Today, few potters of the – city of clay – continue making the ancient earthenware pottery of Vallauris. However, at Remember Provence, we have selected one artisan who continues the handcrafted tradition of this Provencal pottery. These beautiful kitchen containers are handmade Vallauris ceramics, such as the emblematic daubiere pot, the Provencal tian dish, the large skillet.

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Chef François de Mélogue

François de Mélogue grew up in a very French household in Chicago. His earliest attempts at cookery began with the filleting of his sister’s goldfish at age two and a braised rabbit dish made with his pet rabbits by age seven. He eventually stopped cooking his pets and went to the highly esteemed New England Culinary Institute, where he graduated top of his class in 1985.

Chef François has over 30 years of cross-cultural culinary experience and brings an impressive culinary history and a unique Mediterranean cooking style. After graduating top of his class from the notable New England Culinary Institute, Chef François began his career in a number of highly acclaimed kitchens across the country, including Chef Louis Szathmary’s restaurant The Bakery in Chicago, Old Drovers Inn, a Relais and Chateaux property in New York and Joel Robuchon Gastronomie restaurant in Paris, before opening award-winning restaurant Pili Pili in his hometown of Chicago, rated in the Top Ten new restaurants in the World by Food and Wine magazine in 2003.

Chef François resides in St Albans, Vermont with his wife Lisa and ten-year-old son Beaumont, who has proclaimed himself the family saucier. Chef François' latest publication French Cooking for Beginners: 75+ Classic Recipes to Cook Like a Parisian takes you on a culinary journey well beyond the streets of Paris. Francois is a professional photographer specializing in food/product photography, real estate photography and shooting rural landscapes of Vermont and France. Explore his work on https://www.francoisdemelogue.com/.

Take a look at his website Simple French Cooking filled with delicious recipes and beautiful photos. Also follow Francois on Medium for more tempting dishes Pistou and Pastis.

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