Tian

“A tian is a Provencal dish.  Calling it a ‘specialty,’ however, may be going too far, suggesting that you might see it chalked up outside some local bistro as the day’s special, the chef’s treat.  Possible, but not more likely than finding your local restaurant featuring macaroni and cheese.  A tian, essentially, is a vegetable casserole, a modest penny-stretcher meant, whether served hot or cold, as the main course of a side dish, to provide the bulk of the meal at the least possible cost.  Unlike most casserole dishes, however, its list of virtues doesn’t start and end with economy.  The defining characteristic of a tian – slow cooking in olive oil and seasoning – brings out the best of taste and texture in a host of vegetables.  Furthermore… a tian is an excellent vegetarian dish, since its nutritional content can be enhanced via several attractive options with our recourse to meat.”

-       John Thorne (Simple Cooking, North Point Press, 1987)

“For grown-ups, I suggest the pumpkin tian in John Thorne’s noble and mighty Simple Cooking.  John Thorne, who lives in Maine, puts out a newsletter of the same name that is enchanting, opinionated, and full of good things.  The pumpkin tian, in addition to being one of the most delicious things you will ever eat, demonstrates that the whole is more magnificent than the sum of its meager parts.  The first time I made this dish I almost collapsed at the realization that something so easy could taste so wonderful.”

-       Laurie Colwin (More Home Cooking, A Writer Returns to the Kitchen)

Pumpkin Tian

1 small pumpkin (3 or 4 lbs.)

¼ c. flour

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 t. thyme

2 T. good Parmesan cheese

1/3 c. olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325.  Remove seeds, string, and rind from the pumpkin flesh, then cut flesh into ¾-inch cubes.  Toss with flour until cubes are coated.  Toss again with herbs and cheese.  Rub the interior of a casserole dish generously with olive oil.  Pack in the floured and seasoned pumpkin cubes, and dribble the remaining oil evenly over top.  Set in the preheated oven and bake for 2 to 2½ hours.  The top of the dish will form a dark crust; the pumpkin within dissolves in the mouth.