Provençal Tian (summer vegetable bake)

A Provençal Tian is probably in the top 5 ways I would suggest anyone use their late summer vegetables. Simple enough to make and prepare it is a wonderful side but also works well as a vegetarian main.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup/125 ml tomato coulis/tomato passata
• 3 medium-sized tomatoes, cut into 1 cm slices
• 1 onion, cut into slivers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 eggplants, washed and sliced (thin to medium is fine*)
• 4-5 medium-sized courgettes, washed and sliced (thin to medium is fine*)
• 1 log goat cheese (optional**)
• 1/4 cup/60 ml olive oil
• 1 tbsp herbes de Provence (a mix of thyme and oregano also works)
• a handful of fresh basil (optional), chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 175 C
2. Put 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper. Then cook until the onions get soft and slightly transluscent, around 5-7 minutes.
3. Take a large deep-dish pie plate or rectangular baking dish (the type you would use for a lasagna)
4. Spread the tomato coulis on the bottom of the dish, scatter 1 tsp of the herbes de Provence on top. Lay out the sliced cooked onions so that they cover the bottom of the dish. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, mix the olive oil with the remainder of the herbes de Provence. Add the chopped basil, the minced garlic, 1 tsp of salt, and some pepper. Combine well.
6. Add the courgettes and eggplant to the olive oil mixture and with clean hands or big salad spoons, combine well, trying to coat as much of the vegetables as you can with the flavored olive oil. Add in the tomatoes and deliately mix for a few seconds.
7. Bring out the dish with the onions and layer the tomato slices, eggplant and courgettes. If you want to make it look extra pretty, alternate the slices so you have one slice of courgette, one slice of eggplant, one slice of tomato. Otherwise, you can just spread all the vegetables around carefully (like on the picture) making sure they are well spread out.
8. Bake for 60 minutes or until cooked and golden on top