Before they go into the oven to bake, the sliced tomatoes, eggplant and yellow and green zucchini in the tian look especially vibrant. Underneath those vegetables in the bottom of the dish is a layer of onions and garlic that has been sauteed in olive oil.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Fresh from the oven, the servings of the Vegetable Tian are warm and fragrant.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Ingredients in the Vegetable Tian, clockwise from lower left, include fresh herbs, garlic, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, capers, panko crumbs, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
“This is the simple vegetable dish I wanted to make last week, but didn’t,” I announced to anyone who would listen. “So I made it this week with tomatoes from our garden and zucchini and eggplant from the Farmers Market. It’s called a tian and it’s French. Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Since it’s French, I’ll give you a French response,” replied our neighbor Roger, who sampled the new creation on Sunday. “It’s a nice mélange, with the tomatoes being just sweet enough and acidic enough to complement the other vegetables. It’s a very nice, light summer dish.”
I took a serving to another neighbor of ours — my mom — who loved it even more than I thought she would, declared it delicious, and promptly asked for more.
Mark also enjoyed the rainbow of vegetables that I’d baked with olive oil, onions, garlic and herbs, and sprinkled with a bit of grated Parmesan and panko bread crumbs.
“It would’ve looked better if you’d used the mandolin (to slice the vegetables),” he said of the finished product.
“That could have make the slices more uniform,” I said. “But I like being rustic and I think it’s more rustic this way.”
“You can use a mandolin and still be rustic,” he said.
Still, I think it’s easier to cut most vegetables with a knife. So let’s just celebrate our different styles.
Speaking of different styles, I looked online and found several different recipes for a vegetable tian, which gets its name from the flat terra cotta vessel in which the vegetables are traditionally baked and served.
One recipe author said to bake the tian for just half an hour; someone else called for more than double that amount of time. Someone wanted you to add eggs. Someone else said to peel and roast red peppers before adding them to the dish with the raw veggies.
I wanted to keep my tian simple. Rather than roast peppers, I decided not to use any. I also didn’t add eggs. And I baked the tian — in a ceramic, not terra cotta dish — for 1 hour, 15 minutes. Then I served it to Mark, Roger and my mom alongside another vegetarian dish, a babka made mostly of potatoes and onions. (More about that in an upcoming column). Meanwhile, here is the recipe I followed for a Vegetable Tian. It’s inspired by several of the online recipes I read.
VEGETABLE TIAN
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 small eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 medium yellow zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 green zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon panko crumbs
handful of fresh herbs of your choice, minced (mine were parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
grated Parmesan cheese to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush a round baking dish with olive oil and set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cook until softened. Spread mixture in bottom of prepared dish.
Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over sliced eggplant, yellow zucchini and green zucchini. Add herbs and toss to coat. Then arrange the slices in the baking dish, alternating zucchini and eggplant with tomato slices. Drizzle remaining olive oil over the top and sprinkle with capers. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove foil and sprinkle with panko and grated Parmesan cheese. Return to oven and bake uncovered for an additional 30 minutes until lightly browned. Serve warm.
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