Tourte à la provençale

Name: Tourte à la provençale
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 large onion, sliced; 400 g (12¾ oz) puff pastry or shortcrust pastry; 100 g (3¼ oz) Gruyère or other firm cheese, grated pinch of ground nutmeg; 4 small zucchini (courgettes), cut into 1 cm (½ inch) thick slices; 125 ml (4 fl oz) thick (double) cream or cream for whipping; leaves from 2–3 sprigs of fresh rosemary; 230 g (7¼ oz) eggplant (aubergine), cut into 1 cm ½ inch) thick slices; 2 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves; small pinch of cayenne pepper; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 400 g (12¾ oz) ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut into 2 cm (¾ inch) cubes; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 eggs; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 150 ml (5 fl oz) olive oil; 3 French shallots, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
3 hr

Appears in

Regional French

By Le Cordon Bleu

Published 1998

About

A tourte is a round pie usually associated with rural cooking, and many of the French provinces have their own tourtes filled with fresh local ingredients. In this recipe, the filling is made using vegetables and herbs commonly found in the south of France.

Ingredients

4 small zucchini (courgettes), cut into 1 cm (½ inch) thick slices
230 g (7¼ oz) eggplant

Europe
France
Pie
Vegetarian
Provence
Mediterranean

Method

Toss the zucchini and eggplant with a teaspoon of salt and leave in a colander for 30 minutes. Rinse to remove any residual salt, then dry on paper towels.
Heat one third of the oil in a wide pan over medium heat, add the onion and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the heat to high, add another third of the oil, the shallots, zucchini and eggplant and cook for 3 minutes