Provencal Vegetable Pie
2011/04/01
Martin and Sharon Brownjohn
This is a dish of three parts comprising a vegetable filling in a
tomato sauce covered with a french bread topping.
Notes
Despite the many ingredients and much prepping,
this recipe is really hearty and tasty. Remember that when cooking on a
residential there are plenty of people who are willing to help.
This is a dish of three parts comprising a
vegetable filling in a tomato sauce covered with a french bread topping. If
there isn't an oven at your accommodation you could probably still make this
using a hob and grill.
Serves 8-12, depending on greed level.
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
- 100g butter
- 2 onions peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 4 x 400g cans plum tomatoes
- 3 tbsp tomato puree
- generous pinch of dried oregano
For the filling
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 red onions peeled and sliced
- 2 small fennel bulbs diced
- 4 courgettes diced
- 2 x 400g cans flageolet beans
- 250g pitted black olives chopped
- 2 tbsp capers
For the topping
- 2 sticks french bread
- 180ml - 12 tbsp - extra virgin olive oil
- basil - fresh or dried
- parsley - fresh or dried
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 50g grated cheddar or parmesan
Method
For the tomato sauce
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onions
and garlic and cook gently for about 10 minutes until softened.
- Add the tomatoes with the tomato puree and
oregano. Cook, uncovered, over a low heat for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring
occasionally until the sauce is thick and pulpy and season with salt and
pepper.
For the filling
- Preheat oven to 200C /Gas Mark 6
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the
onion and fennel and fry gently for 10 minutes or until softened. Add the
courgette and fry for a further 5 mins.
- Stir into the hot tomato sauce, together with
the flageolet beans and their liquid, the olives, capers and seasoning to
taste.
- Transfer to a lightly oiled baking dish (or 2)
and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes
For the topping
- Slice the bread so that it will cover the
vegetables in the baking dish(es).
- Mix extra virgin olive oil, herbs and garlic in
a bowl, remove stew from the oven, dip the bread slices into the mixture
and arrange overlapping slices on top the vegetables to form a crust.
- Scatter the cheese over the bread crust and bake
for a further 15 minutes.