Provencal Tian

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How many of you have had enough of the Royal Wedding? I certainly have. Starting from the cake and cookies that were going to be made for the occasion, dresses that the bride was going to wear, and dissecting the guest lists, most TV stations had started a month ago. I was not terribly fond of Princess Diana and the incessant coverage of everything she did was more than enough and now this is totally out of control.

Arranged vegetables with cheese sprinkled on top

Why is a wedding of a tax payer funded royal so popular here in the US? Aren't the American people against everything smacking of elitism and classicism? What can smack more of classics than a royal's wedding? Is it the case of coverage that far exceeds interest or just enough coverage to match the interest?

Here is my problem, most of these royals don't lift a finger and do anything and that is all I can think of whenever I see and hear of this lavish pageantry.

If only they'd do it quietly and leave the rest of us to go about our uninteresting commoner lives. If you are one of them who is going to have a party to celebrate the occasion, Have Fun!. You are not fuming and complaining like I am and that is certainly a good thing and the only way to deal with it.

So lets leave the noisy royal party behind and cross the English Channel and go over to France and try one of their sensible dishes which uses fresh vegetables. This recipe is from a French mother-daughter pair who live in our neck of the woods and they cook to relax. With tasty and minimum effort dishes like these why is there a need to eat out. They had mentioned that they much prefer cooking at home. Apparently "French women think dining in is as sexy as dining out." The article in my hometown newspaper here which is were the recipe is from as well.

Besides being an easy recipe with minimal ingredients and cheese meant it is going to please the kids. Stir fries the most common way to cook vegetables does not always excite them that much. With this recipe I guarantee they will be asking for seconds.

You could use the big oven but to cut down on time and energy usage, I used the toaster oven.

Recipe Source: Provencal Tian

Provencal Tian
Ingredients
1. 2 Medium sized Zucchinis cut into thin rounds
2. 1 Medium Red onion (smaller the better) cut into thin rounds
3. 1 firm but ripe Roma tomato cut into thin round
4. 2 tsp (or more) of pepper powder
4a. Eggplants cut into rounds very thin (I did not use it)
5. salt as required
6. 1/4 - 1/2 cup cheese (I used a combination of Parmesan cheese and 3 cheese blend (fontina, asiago, parmesan)
7. Oil spray

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Use a oven proof plate (pie plate would work perfectly). I used the toaster bake tray and arrange d the cut vegetables if circular concentrically with one of zucchini followed by a combination of onions and tomatoes and so forth into 3 layers. We interspersed the onions and tomatoes in between the zucchini.
3. After one layer of vegetables spray oil, sprinkle pepper and salt. Repeat for all layers
3. Layer the cheese on top (as thick or thin as you want)
4. Bake for 20 minutes or till the zucchini is cooked and then broil for 5 minutes till the cheese is nice and brown on top. Don't over broil.