Tian
Tian is traditional Provençal Vegetable dish, which originated in the South of France. It has its name from traditional round shape clay baking dish called Tian. Tian is basically vegetable bake made of few simple ingredients – zucchini, aubergines, tomatoes, herbs de Provence, onion and garlic and looots of olive oil.
Each family has usually their own twist for preparing Tian. Our recipe is from family of Zuzana’s husband Michel.
Tian is typical summer dish in the South of France. It is a simple, vegetarian and vegan side dish that tastes as gorgeous as it looks. This dish is a perfect companion for a stake, BBQ, fresh fish, lemon rosemary chicken or on its own. You can enjoy Tian warm, but it is also delicious cold.
As this is a summer dish, it is important to use vegetables when they are in season. Tomatoes, zucchinis and aubergines are at their prime during summer, so we would strongly recommend preparing this dish especially during the summer.
If you want your Tian to look really nice and organized, try to buy more or less same size of veggies. We recommend using Beefsteak tomatoes as they contain less seeds than regular tomatoes. We also used green and yellow zucchini, but you can use any zucchini you like.
You can keep Tian in airtight container in the fridge for two to three days.
Ingredients
400 – 500g of each vegetable
500g aubergines
500g zucchini
500g tomatoes
1 big onion
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Herbs of Provence – 9 branches of thyme, 3 branches of rosemary
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Round clay dish 27cm diameter.
Directions
1. Prepare vegetables – slice zucchini, aubergines and tomatoes.
Cut the vegetables at consistent widths from end to end (not too thin or too thick).
2. Cut 1 piece of garlic lengthwise and grate the bottom and sides of the baking dish.
3. Chop onion in thin slices and dice garlic.
4. Drizzle some olive oil over the bottom of baking dish.
5. Lay pieces of onions and garlic at the bottom of the dish.
6. Lay 2 branches of rosemary and 7 branches of thyme on the top of onion and garlic.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Assemble Tian – piece by piece – zucchini/tomato/aubergine – repeat until you fill the dish.
Season with salt and pepper and generously drizzle with olive oil.
9. Sprinkle Tian with 1 branch of rosemary and 2 - branches of thyme. Cover with aluminium foil.
Bake for 50 mins. After 50 mins remove aluminium foil and bake for another 50 minutes.
