TIAN PROVENÇAL

Provençals have invented many different dishes for their colourful summer vegetables, from ratatouille to petits farcis niçois and this tian is one of them.  This recipe is called after the roughly glazed oven dish it is cooked in, and it generally does not contain peppers. It’s baked for an hour and can be eaten warm or cold.  Enough for 10.

                 1 clove of garlic, halved
                 olive oil
                 few sprigs of rosemary, savoury or thyme
                 2 green + 2 yellow courgettes (zucchini)
                 2 aubergines (eggplants)
                 1 red + 1 sweet onion
                 4-5 tomatoes
                 fleur de sel + freshly ground pepper
                 ½ tsp fennel seeds (optional)
                 olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 180°C. Rub a pretty earthenware oven dish with the garlic, drizzle with olive oil and place a few sprigs of rosemary, savoury or thyme on the bottom.  Wash the vegetables and slice to ½ cm thickness. Heat a saucepan with a few spoons of olive oil and toss the courgette and aubergine slices for a few minutes. Now stack the slices upright in the dish in a circular pattern, alternating the colours.  Drizzle with more olive oil and season with salt and pepper and a sprinkling of fennel seeds. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, lightly press down to baste the vegetables and encourage the juices to flow. If necessary drizzle with a little more olive oil, then bake uncovered for another 30 minutes.