Vegetable Love Contest

Susan of Fatfree Vegan Kitchen is holding her annual Vegetable Love Challenge for Valentine's Day. My entry is a vegetable tian. A tian is pretty much just a layered dish which can be sweet or savory. This one has purple and red potatoes, zucchini , tomatoes and olives baked in a tart pan. In order to lower the fat I used thinly sliced potatoes instead of a traditional crust.




Vegetable Tian

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 leek, white and pale-green parts, rinsed well, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1-2 zucchini, very thinly sliced (1 cup)
3 plum tomatoes, very thinly sliced (3 cups)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
handful of olives, pitted and halved
nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions
Spray a tart pan or 9-inch baking dish with non-stick spray
Preheat oven to 400. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leek and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add wine and cook an additional minute. Set aside.
Arrange potatoes in overlapping circles covering the bottom of the dish. Spread leek mixture on top of potatoes. Arrange vegetables on leek mixture in slightly overlapping circles, alternating zucchini and tomatoes.
Top with 1 tablespoon oil, herbs, salt, and pepper. Bake 30 minutes then arrange olives on top. Bake an additional 15 minutes until vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast.


Use whatever veggies you have or that are in season-eggplant, yellow squash, onions, etc. This is what I found at the farmer's market today.

A layer of potatoes makes the "crust". You can also use a pastry crust for a more decadent dish and add layers of nutritional yeast or vegan cheese.

A sweet tian or trifle would be a great dessert to go with this. Use layers of cake, vegan pudding, fruit, soyatoo whip cream and shaved chocolate on top!