If you’re married to a farmer like Bob, you must be knee deep in zucchini and tomatoes about now.
Or maybe you have the green thumb? My side of our city farmhouse has all the herbs and flowers; Bob’s in charge of the raised vegetable bed on the south corner. Every morning he deposits a montage of home-grown peppers, onions, tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini on our kitchen island, and every afternoon I stand staring at the stove wondering, “What in God’s name can I do with all this bounty?”
So, like any good 21st Century farmwife, I boot up Pinterest!
After a major lull in my Pinterest activity, this pandemic has found me gazing at Pinterest boards full of building projects, hairstyles for women over 60 (I wonder how they know I’m over 60? (wink), vacations to faraway places, beach houses, and of course food!
I love following famous chefs like, Eric Ripert and Ina Garten, to see what they have cooking. In the spring, I discovered a very simple, summer vegetable dish called TIAN…how is that in all my years of semi-French cooking, I’d never actually made a Tian?
The name simply refers to an oval or round, deep earthenware pie dish that is filled with overlapping vegetables.
My first attempt was to slice tomatoes and zucchini of about the same size, and arrange them in concentric circles of green and red over a bed of onions. Here’s the trick, you must first caramelize the onions. This was new to me, cooking onions until they are brown, sugary and almost burnt. I was skeptical at first, but I added a dab of Irish butter at the end and they were delicious. This week, I broke out the madeleine and sliced up some zucchini, and potatoes to add to the tomatoes in my carousel of vegetables above onions and it was divine!
Here is Eric Ripert’s Zucchini Tian:
https://www.today.com/video/eric-ripert-makes-a-delicious-vegetarian-dish-for-earth-week-110579781927
In my never-ending search for a recipe other than zucchini bread, I came across the TART. Not to be confused with the TARTINE – which is simply an open-faced sandwich – the tart is the queen of the bunch. Imagine a savory pie. If you believe that anything tastes better with cheese and a pie crust, you will love the tart. I’ve made my share of tarts in the past, and I must admit I usually cheat and buy the ready-made pie crusts, but if you need a pretty buffet dish to bring to a picnic this is it.
Here is Ina Garten’s Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tart:
https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/zucchini-goat-cheese-tart
Last but not least we have the TORTE, from Italy. This is the more complicated recipe since all the vegetables are cooked or roasted before they are layered in your baking dish. I usually will make this in the winter with root vegetables, but I don’t see why we can’t use what’s coming up in the garden. I like to use a loaf pan, pressing every layer down flat, and then serve my vegetable torte sliced like big slabs of bread. I would poach the torte in a water bath in the oven to make it easily removable. This recipe uses zucchini, eggplant and mushrooms baked in a spring form pan to perfection.
Here is the NYTimes Cooking Torte:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013213-layered-vegetable-torte
Since it is supposed to reach 100 degrees this week in Nashville, you may want to try baking your vegetable casseroles in the morning; they can all be served at room temperature. Bon Appetit!
MountainMornings 