Notes From a French Kitchen

By Marie-Christine Perry

The farmers market beckons, full of this summer’s bounty, and conjures Provence, France, where every small village market on the hills offers an abundance of the local favorites – shiny purple eggplants, large juicy tomatoes, pale green and yellow zucchini, and sweet peppers in a variety of shapes and colors. And garlic, of course, hanging in tresses from every stall. This would call for ratatouille, but today I think of the rustic tian, a Provençal specialty redolent of garlic, olive oil, and the wild herbs of Provence. For this you need an earthenware vessel, also called tian. The traditional Provençal tian has an inverse conical shape, but any earthenware bowl or deep au gratin dish would do.

The tian will accompany the lamb chops or whole salmon (I haven’t decided) I plan to grill, together with a salad of new potatoes and young beets in vinaigrette dressing. Dinner will conclude with a peach and raspberry galette, and perhaps some homemade vanilla ice cream, to bring to the table the flavors of the cuisine of the sun.

For the tian, you will need four tomatoes, four small tender zucchini (two green, two yellow), four slender eggplants (Chinese or Japanese work very well), two sweet peppers (red and yellow,) two onions, a head of garlic (I use purple), and some fresh herbes de Provence (thyme, basil, marjoram, fennel, bay leaf…to name a few.) Use the herbs you have and enjoy, but the mix should be very aromatic. You also need a cup of really good olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. 

Slice the zucchini and eggplants into thin rounds, blanch them in salted boiling water for 30 seconds, plunge briefly in iced water and drain. Slice onions, tomatoes and peppers thinly. Crush a clove or two of garlic and rub it into the tian, adding the other cloves, plus olive oil to scantily cover the bottom of the dish. Arrange the rounds of vegetables in alternate rows with peppers, tomatoes and onions, almost standing up in the tian, at a slight angle.    They should be standing pretty tightly. Mix the olive oil with the chopped herbs and salt and pepper, and liberally pour this over the dish, to allow vegetables to be candied as they cook, and not steamed.    

Put the tian in the middle rack of a 375 degree oven for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, until the vegetables melt in your mouth. Garnish with fresh basil leaves before serving. The versatile tian can accompany, as it will for me, grilled meat or fish, or stand on its own for lunch, with a crusty baguette and some dressed seasonal greens.    It can be served hot, at room temperature, or cold, and is even better the next day. 

For the galette, I want to take advantage of summer peaches and plums, and perhaps raspberries. This is a quick delicious dessert, for which you do not need special equipment besides an oven tray.   Making a pâte sucrée (sweet shortcrust pastry dough) in advance will make this even quicker!    I use a little almond flour in mine. 

Roll out the pâte sucrée thinly on a sheet of parchment paper into a rough roundish shape, mix four tablespoons of crystallized raw sugar and four tablespoons of almond flour and spread this mixture on the rolled dough, leaving a border about one and a half inches all around.    Spread slices of peaches, apricots or plums and a few berries evenly on this almond sugar and fold back the edges towards the center.   Paint those folded edges with some heavy cream, and sprinkle one or two tablespoons of raw sugar on top of crust and fruit.   Bake for 35 minutes in a 375 degree oven, or until the edges are golden.    Let cool to room temperature, and serve as is, or with some good vanilla ice cream.

A couple of bottles of Pinot Noir with the lamb or salmon and the tian, and some Prosecco for dessert will round the evening!    A nice rosé would also bring Provence to your doorstep! 

Bon appétit!

Editor’s note: Marie-Christine Perry was born and raised in France, and worked for many years as a chef, preparing French food. She recently moved to Norfolk, and we are eagerly looking forward to reading more “Notes from a French Kitchen” columns from her.