Tian

I spotted this beautiful dish over at Living the Life in Saint-Aignan and was inspired. In saying dish I should refer to the actual container as well as its contents. A Tian is the Provencal name for a shallow earthernware gratin dish . 

The Tian I’ve been inspired to try is courgette, aubergine and tomato.

As I chopped the veg I also wondered about the untapped potential for Tian as celebrity offspring name. It’s in keeping with the foodie fraternity- Apple/Peaches and teamed with Princess or Petite, perfect for a little girl in scalloped frills…

But back to the kitchen.

First , chopping and slicing : red onion chopped. Aubergine and Carbon tomatoes sliced into discs and halved on account of their size, courgettes sliced into discs.

I heated a large swirl of olive oil in a shallow but large frying pan and gently cooked the chopped red onion for about 10 minutes until soft.

Then I took a (non provencal) gratin dish, layered the cooked onion at the bottom and then dry stoned walled the aubergine, tomato and courgette in alternate rows, pushing back the rows to squeeze more in as I went.

An outpouring of olive oil over the assembled dish and into the oven for 45 minutes at 180C ( fan).

Next time around I think I might increase the number of tomato rows so they outnumber the other veg as they were especially delicious ! ( I know, favouritism !)

And apologies for the quality of today’s pictures. I accidently had the camera  set to landscape ( must have been all that talk of dry stone walling) and snapped and scoffed before checking the photos.