A Vegetable Tiella Recipe - Italian Vegetable Casserole

Misi writes: "Recently a dish has come to my attention and I was wondering if you could help me. The name of the dish, is tiella; it consists of zucchini, potatoes, ground beef and various Italian spices and herbs. I am trying to find a recipe for this dish, as those I spoke to all have the recipe in their heads and not on paper." I've found a couple of things. One is from the Abruzzo-Molise area, and is essentially a vegetable casserole. To serve about 6, you'll need:

Prep Time: 1 hours, 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 pounds (600 g) ripe plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, chopped & drained (in winter canned tomatoes will do)
• 1 pound (500 g) eggplant
• 1 pound (500 g) potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 pound (500 g) onion, sliced
• 2 ribs celery, finely minced
• Finely chopped fresh origano
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons minced parsley
• Olive oil
• Salt & freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Trim the stems and bottoms of the eggplant, slice them finely, salt them, and put them in a colander for about an hour, during which time the salt will draw out the bitter juices. Then rinse them and pat them dry.

Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).

Oil a large oven-proof dish and put down the sliced vegetables in layers, seasoning each completed cycle with some of the minced herbs, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil. When you are done layering, sprinkle a little more olive oil over the top and bake until the vegetables are fairly dry -- you don't want something that's soupy when you serve it.

Yield: 6 servings of Tiella.

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