Name: Eggplant Tian
Ingredients: plum tomatoes; coarse bread panko; fresh basil; red bell peppers; olive oil; onion; eggplant; black pepper; garlic; salt; coarse bread crumbs

Liana Krissoff

Eggplant Tian

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Slow Cook Modern

By Liana Krissoff

Published 2017

About

WITH olive-marinated fresh mozzarella

ALSO GOOD WITH corn muffins OR almond couscous

I included a similar tian in my first slow cooker book, but have since simplified my approach a lot. When you layer the ingredients, they’ll come almost to the top of the cooker pot, but don’t worry: They’ll collapse and sink down after a couple of hours and their flavors will all meld, resulting in a dish that’s much greater than the sum of its parts.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons (75 ml) olive oil
½ onion, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large (1¼-pound/570-g) eggplant, peeled and sliced ¼ to ½ inch (6 to 12 mm) thick
3 large roasted and peeled red bell peppers, torn into large pieces
6 plum tomatoes, sliced
2 large sprigs fresh basil, stemmed
6 cloves garlic
1 cup (80 g) coarse bread crumbs or panko

Method

Morning

Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to coat the slow cooker pot. Spread the onion in the bottom of the pot and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange layers of the vegetables on top, seasoning each layer lightly with salt and pepper: first eggplant, then roasted peppers and tomatoes; then basil, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes, basil, and eggplant; and, finally, peppers and tomatoes on top. Tuck the garlic cloves in around the vegetables. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the oil. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Evening

In a large skillet or sauté pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the bread crumbs and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until golden and crunchy, 2 to 4 minutes.

If there’s a lot of excess liquid in the cooker pot, use a large spoon to press down on the layers of vegetables and scoop it out without disturbing the layers too much. Spread the fried bread crumbs on top and serve.