Eggplant Zucchini and Tomato Tian

Today I wanted to consume beauty...because I'm worth it.

And beauty often lies within vegetables with their different colors and textures.  One of my favorite vegetabes is eggplant.  It is the most sexy vegetable in this world.  It almost rivals with salmon...

Wait..salmon is not a vegetable..is it?

It has the ability to be meaty, creamy, or crisp and alway always gives me ultimate satisfaction.  Whenever I see them on sale, I buy them..and the best part is when I buy several, and I can make different things through that one grouped purchase.  Sometimes I forget I still have some, and while I'm rummaging through the fridge looking for something else, I stumble upon one, and my entire meal plan goes out the window and is replaced by something invloving this magnificent creature...err vegetable.

Today was not one of those days.  That last eggplant has been in the back of my mind for a few days, and as I was driving home today, it materialized in my brain into this tian..or flan..or whatever.

To me, making something beautiful using eggplant is like putting an evening gown on a beautiful woman.  She would be beautiful dressed in a trashbag, but when you put her in an evening gown, she glows from within.  It's like a sign of respect to her perfection.

My eggplant's evening gown is from the different colors presented on each side..red, green, white, and purple, slightly browned from the roasting...it's a custom made dress she will wear only once in her life...

Before I devour her

Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

Ingredients

1 long eggplant in 3mm slices, soaked in salted water

2 small zucchinis in 3mm slices

2 large tomatoes in 3mm slices

1 large onion in 3mm slices

2 tsp dried basil

2 Tbsp EVOO

1 tsp piment d'espelette

1 1/2 tsp fleur de sel

1 tsp cracked black pepper

Handful crumbled feta

4 well beaten eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

Directions

1.  Oil a deep baking dish, such as the one you might make quich in.

2.  Arrange the sliced vegetables vertically.  I started with a pattern of eggplant-zucchini-tomato-zucchini-onion-zucchini-eggplant until I ran out of onion and tomato, and then did eggplant-zucchini-eggplant.

3.  After everything is arranged, springle the basil, salt, pepper, and piment d'espelette and pour the EVOO over the slices.

4.  Beat the eggs with the milk and cream well, then pour over the arranged vegetables in the dish.
5.  Bake at 180°C 350°F for about 1 hour.  You'll want to remove it at 45 minutes.  Resist this urge no matter how hard it calls to you.

Serve with a salad or with something grilled.
I labelled this as an appetizer, but I had it for dinner with an avocado laced salad, which was like pairing glass slippers to the evening gown on the beautiful barefoot woman...