The Last Tian

This is how I know my garden has not done well this summer. I mean, besides the fact that I am not carrying baskets of produce into my house every day. Usually I make three Tians at a time and give them away to my neighbors. My neighbors aren't speaking to me this summer. They have yet to see a Tian. This is only the second one I've made and I had to BUY eggplant for it. Bad summer!!!! In case you are luckier with your garden and you want to use up all the good things that have grown there (grumble grumble) try this recipe. It is easy and while it is cooking it will make your house smell better than chocolate chip cookies. Start by putting a layer of sliced eggplant in the bottom of a pan and cover it with a layer of tomatoes sprinkled with sea salt.




Add a layer of grated cheese. I use mostly gruyere but this is a good chance to use up leftover cheeses


Saute' onions and peppers and garlic (hopefully also from your garden) in some olive oil and add salt and pepper and any fresh herbs from your garden.


Spread this mixture over the grated cheese layer.


Add a layer of zucchini on top of the onion mixture. I did grow these!!!


Sprinkle some basil leaves over the zucchini.




Add more cheese and I dotted the top with pitted kalamata olives.


Sprinkle the entire top with grated Parmesan cheese.


Bake in a 350 degree oven until the top is golden and it is bubbling all around the edges.

Nom Nom.

Comments

brokenteepee said…
*sigh* still no red tomatoes. This looks yummy. I just did a boatload of eggplant lasagnas and put them in the freezer as our eggplants are doing well.
Anonymous said…
This looks really yummy, even though I hate eggplant and veggies as a whole.

-The Picky Eating Kitchen Variety Witch
VintageSage said…
OMG...I'm drooling on my keyboard!!!
Elizabeth said…
None of the gardens in my neighborhood did very well this year either! I'm going to have to make a tian too now! I never heard of it before...thanks for sharing.
Unknown said…
Wow, this is amazing. I will have to try this one day!

If it makes you feel any better, our usually abundant garden did not do a damn thing this year. We got 5 eggplants, enough beans for two meals ( and we planted 3 kinds!!!) about 12 tomatoes ( off of two plants ) and 3 green bell pepper, our purple peppers didn't do anything.

We planted several peppers that grew but never produced ( which was the case of most of our garden, plants grow but no veggies grew ) two kinds of onions, zucchini, eggplants, squash, and some other stuff, and nothing did anything really. We have had maybe 5 meals total from what we managed to bring in..it was pitiful.

I guess not all of us were as lucky as others this year!
Aussiemade said…
Whilst your gardens are winding down, I am really looking forward to trying this wonderful recipe when I get my summer crops. Your photos look so great I can almost smell the Tian all the way downunder.