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AAF’s Recipe of the Day

This is definitively one of my very favorite dish from my neck of the woods, can be eaten either hot or cold. It’s mostly eaten as an appetizer, or it accompanies meat dishes.

Plat de Légumes a la Provencale

12 medium-sized field mushrooms
6 small eggplants, halved
6 small round zucchinis, halved
6 bell peppers (3 red, 3 yellow), halved and seeded
6 medium-sized tomatoes
12 small red onions
Vegetable stuffing:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 pounds lean minced lamb
12 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a small bunch of finely chopped parsley
6 tablespoons chopped basil
6 large slices country bread (for breadcrumbs)
4 eggs, beaten
200 grams grated Parmesan
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

First, heat up the oven and spray the bread slices with a little oil, then bake till crisp. Use the mixer to make them into breadcrumbs. Being from Provence I can never resist rubbing the bread slices with garlic before baking.

While the bread is in the oven, scoop out the onions, bell peppers, aubergines (eggplants), zucchinis and tomatoes (I use the insides for stock, no waste allowed!) Remove the stalks of the mushrooms and place all the vegetables onto a couple of buttered trays. In a mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon or hardened spatula, add the minced lamb (if that’s a problem to obtain, you can substitute it with either a good beef mince or sausage meat -pork and veal) pour the oil slowly, add the garlic, the herbs, the parmesan and the eggs to bind. I use a forcing bag to fill the vegs, if you don’t have one use the spoon. When the vegetables are filled, cover generously with the fresh breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven (260 Celsius) If you can find a dry rosé, it would go hand in hand with this recipe! Note: you can do this as a vegetarian dish by omitting the lamb mince by replacing it with a mix of garlic, breadcrumbs and vegetable pulp.