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Vegetable Tian

one and a half slices vegetable tian ratatouille french authentic recipe
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Vegetable Tian (aka Ratatouille)

one and a half slices vegetable tian ratatouille french authentic recipe

This dish is one of those you love to make simply because everyone goes crazy over how beautiful it is. Perfect for potlucks, Friendsgivings, and the like, this can also just majorly dress up a weeknight dinner table. You could actually make it an entire meal by adding some cooked loose sausage to the bottom along with the onion, but I’ll leave that variation up to you.

Vegetable Tian is another name for the dish we all may know as Ratatouille. You’ve seen the Disney movie with the adorable little mouse chef. Traditional ratatouille has everything from tomatoes to eggplant and, like most exquisite French cooking, is a peasant dish. It is typically made by dicing and sautéing the vegetables — super simple — served over rice or polenta. Ever since I saw the Disney movie, of course, I wanted to learn how to make the neat little vegetable stacks. But in the interim, this rendition will suffice. You can make it in a square or a round pan though, of course, I am going to recommend cast iron.

Pro tip: try to slice everything evenly. A mandoline helps… but I don’t have one. Also…when selecting your vegetables, try to pick vegetables that look more or less the same size and shape. This will help you in the stacking process.

 

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what you need

1-2 small zucchini

1-2 medium yellow squash

2-3 roma tomatoes

3-4 small white or red potatoes

1 yellow onion, coarsely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup parmesan cheese

thyme, salt, and black pepper for garnish

olive oil

how to make it

Preheat oven to 350 and then set to diligent work washing and slicing your vegetables. I hate to tell you this but the more thinly you slice them, the better this dish will look. Once you’ve got all your veggies sliced, drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of a cast iron skillet and sauté your onion and garlic for just a few minutes until they soften.

Remove from the heat and spread the onions out so they cover the bottom of the skillet. Then set to work alternating your vegetables in a spiral pattern or however you see fit. Once complete, drizzle with olive oil; garnish generously with thyme, salt, and pepper; and top with about 1/4 of the parmesan cheese. 

Bake the Tian for one hour. At the one hour mark, remove from the oven and add the remaining 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Return to the oven for just a few minutes or put it under the broiler for a minute to crisp it up. Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

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One and a half Slices chocolate cake recipe Chocolat movie

French ‘Chocolat’ Cake

You guys know I’ll take pie over cake any day, but if I’m going to indulge in cake, it can’t be the big, billowy, blustery American cake layered with frosting and unnecessary sweetness. Over and over again I gravitate towards French cakes because they are just more delicate, using minimal flour, relying instead of almond meal, and frequently topped with cream instead of icing. This one is on par with my little lemon cake but it’s chocolate… with just a few tablespoons of almond meal, it has a dense but delicate consistency. You could whip it up in under an hour for a last minute dessert and it’s beautiful with a coffee or a bourbon. #minimalistcooking

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one and a half slices harry potter recipe butterbeer hogwarts winter grog

Butterbeer (hot)

Whether you like your butterbeer hot, iced, boozy, or clean, I’ve finally got the recipe for you. Personally, I see no way to drink it other than hot and boozy. #youreawizardharry 🪄

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October 1, 2024 1 Comment
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Veggie

Vegetable Stew and Simple Croutons

oneandahalfslices winter root vegetable stew recipe croutons hearty winter
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Winter Root Vegetable Stew with Easy Croutons

oneandahalfslices winter root vegetable stew recipe croutons hearty winter

I was today-years-old when I discovered croutons. Obviously, I’ve had a crouton before but I’ve certainly never made one or put them in anything. Well that’s all about to change. Before any of you get intimidated and think that a garnishment like a crouton is far too fancy for you to whip up on a weekday soup night, let me explain exactly how unfussy and zero frills this whole crouton business is. Before I began preparing the stew this afternoon, I took a brief moment of silence for all the two-day-old loaves of bread I have chucked in the past decade. Aside from fantasizing about all the fall of soups in which these croutons are to find themselves in short order, this winter root vegetable stew is precisely the thing your overflowing CSA bag calls for. When you’ve got too many turnips, carrots, potatoes, and a sack full of random winter greens, this is the soup you make. If you need the extra carb, add barley. And if you can’t live without meat, add chicken. Otherwise, enjoy as is… and don’t skip the croutons. I channeled major #fallvibes by serving this up with a batch of my Autumn Sangria. 🍷🍊🍷

what you need

2-3 shallots or 1 yellow onion, crudely diced

3 cloves of garlic, crudely minced

1 tablespoon course sea salt

2 tablespoons thyme

3 tablespoons olive oil 

2-3 potatoes of choice

1 turnip

4-5 carrots

1 bunch swiss chard or kale

(butternut squash, sweet potato, parsnips, celery, and other root vegetables also welcome)

5-6 cups vegetable stock

(optional) 1/2 cup raw barley

For the croutons:

6-7 pieces of old, crusty, hearty bread, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1/2 cup olive oil

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons dried rosemary

1 tablespoon salt

how to make it

In a Dutch oven or large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes, careful not to burn the garlic, and add the thyme and salt. You can also throw in some red pepper flakes if you want a little bit of spice. Once the mixture is aromatic, you can add the vegetable stock, stir it well, and bring it to a gentle boil.

Preheat the oven to 350. While waiting for the soup to boil, dice your root vegetables of choice, in this case, potatoes, turnip, and carrots. Add them to the soup, cover, and simmer gently for 30 to 40 minutes. Throw in the barley as well, if using. Pro tip: If you want to add a bit of depth to the flavor, throw in the rind of a block of parmesan cheese. Just don’t forget to take it out before you serve!

While the soup is simmering, cut your winter greens into thin strips. When potatoes are soft, uncover the soup, bump the heat back up to a gentle boil, and add the greens. They will only take 5 to 10 minutes to wilt.

In the meantime, toss your bread with the olive oil, cheese, rosemary, and salt. I find it makes sense to add the olive oil in stages to avoid it being immediately absorbed into the top layer of bread. Once the croutons are prepped, spread them out on a baking pan and bake in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes. Finish the croutons with two to three minutes under the broiler.

Ladle up a bowl, top with croutons, and enjoy the coziest meal you’ll eat this winter. 

Soups Begging for Croutons
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Veggie

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

one and a half slices perfect recipes seasons fall locally sourced local food produce
one and a half slices recipes local delicious food

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

one and a half slices perfect recipes seasons fall locally sourced local food produce

Some are of the opinion that mashed potatoes do not a blog post make. Too simple. And I get it. We do think of mashed potatoes as being simple. To make them restaurant-quality, you have to infuse your cream, caramelize your garlic, and get one of those weird potato grinder sifter contraptions. You can still do all that and those potatoes are STELLAR. But there is this one little trick – this simple, potato-based nuance that changed my weeknight potatoes for life, without purchasing a new kitchen contraption.

See, all my life I’d loaded up my mashed potatoes with heavy cream, parmesan cheese, butter, and anything else that would make them, well, creamy. My mother will quietly remind me of the time that as a 12-year-old I dumped an entire bottle of Bullseye barbeque sauce into a bowl of mashed potatoes I was serving it to my parents in an attempt to make them moist. Turns out I was missing the key to moist mashed potatoes. That key is gifted to you here.

On another note, did you know that a potato with a dash of milk has everything a person needs to survive??? All essential vitamins and even a little protein. No wonder people got by in the great potato famines. Scenes from Dr. Zhivago are rich in my mind when I think of the elegant simplicity of a boiled potato with perhaps a splash of milk and some salt. 

what you need

1 1/2 pounds of white or red potatoes, washed, and half peeled

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon butter 

Salt and Pepper to taste

(optional) 1 splash of whole milk or heavy cream

(optional) 1 tablespoon minced chives for garnish

(optional) 1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese for flavor

note: the optional ingredients are just that. optional. why? because you don’t need to add heavy cream for moisture. if you’d like to add it for depth of flavor, you are welcome to do so alongside chives and parm (personally, I LOVE the parm). 

how to make it

Cut potatoes in half and boil stovetop for ~20 minutes on high until potatoes are soft. Once soft, drain the majority of the water from the pot, but not all of it! 

The key to moist mashed potatoes is to leave some (about 1/4 cup for a small-ish pot) of the reserve potato water in there while you mash. 

Mash the potatoes, Stir in the butter, fresh garlic, cream, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chives if desired and serve.

I serve these potatoes all the time but they are featured here as part of the 2021 Christmas Goose dinner alongside Crispy Cranberry Brussels Sprouts and Citrus Dill Roasted Carrots. 

🦃More from the Holiday Collection🎄
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Veggie

Lemon Chickpea Stew

stew soup recipe fall One and a Half Slices lemon chickpea vegan dish
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Lemon Chickpea Stew

stew soup recipe fall One and a Half Slices lemon chickpea vegan dish

If you didn’t catch my Mushroom Lentil Stew of last week, this vegan beauty came right on its heels. Welcoming Fall in vegan/vegetarian style, the theme of this October is lentils and other legumes. The chickpea is a protein-packed, fiber saturated, hearty meal staple. This soup recipe boasts a super unique flavor comprised of lemon zest, really good olive oil, red chili flakes, and the lowly potato. Just one more example of how fresh, local, in-season produce carries all the flavor you’ll ever need. This stew is filling yet humble. It is bold; it isn’t fancy. It doesn’t require an exotic cocktail pairing… it’s just a simple stew for a simple weeknight to remind you to be thankful for a warm stomach, an engaged palette, and a full plate … (or bowl, in this instance).

Looking for more ways to use chickpeas? Try my Moroccan Tagine.   

what you need

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (if canned, rinsed and drained; if fresh, soaked and boiled)

4 small white potatoes, diced small

1 large carrot, diced small

1 large celery stalk, diced small

1 medium yellow onion, diced small

4 cups vegetable broth

Lemon juice from half a lemon

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 chili pepper, minced (or chili pepper flakes)

Olive oil

Fresh thyme

Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste 

4 cups thinly sliced swiss chard or baby spinach

how to make it

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, ~5 minutes.  Add garlic and chili pepper, and cook ~1 minute more. Add carrots and celery, and cook ~7 minutes more. Add thyme, salt, pepper, and lemon zest, and stir until combined. 

Add potatoes, chickpeas, and vegetable broth, and simmer on low, covered, for ~30-45 minutes. Uncover and check stew for taste, adding more spices as needed. Ladle about half the stew into a blender and puree until smooth. Add the pureed stew back to the pot. Add lemon juice and chard/spinach, stir, and cook, uncovered, ~15 minutes more. 

Ladle into bowls and serve with toasted naan or crusty bread. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil on top (don’t skip this! adds to flavor, especially if you have good olive oil) and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
Other Stews
mushroom stew lentil OneandahalfSlices One and a Half Slices weeknight recipe easy

Mushroom Lentil Stew

This stew has all the body and personality of a meat-based stew conceived of French lentils, soy sauce, white wine, hearty greens, and an unabashed serving of mixed mushrooms. (and yes, I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top for good measure) It is beautiful, hefty, hearty, vegan, locally-sourced, healthy, easy, and autumnal! WELCOME TO FALL! 🍂🍁🍄

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October 23, 2021 No Comments

Broccoli Soup

This is a lighter but still very hearty take on broccoli cheddar soup, with a hint of extra cheese and crunch added in a floating cheesy crouton, like the sourdough hat on French Onion soup. If you’re skeptical that a bowl of broccoli soup can suffice for a full meal, give this one a try.  

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March 21, 2021 No Comments
oneandahalfslices winter root vegetable stew recipe croutons hearty winter

Vegetable Stew and Simple Croutons

I was today-years-old when I discovered croutons. Obviously, I’ve had a crouton before but I’ve certainly never made one or put them in anything. Well that’s all about to change. Before any of you get intimidated and think that a garnishment like a crouton is far too fancy for you to whip up on a weekday soup night, let me explain exactly how unfussy and zero frills this whole crouton business is. Aside from fantasizing about all the fall of soups in which these croutons are to find themselves in short order, this winter root vegetable stew is precisely the thing your overflowing CSA bag calls for. When you’ve got too many turnips, carrots, potatoes, and a sack full of random winter greens, this is the soup you make. And don’t scrimp on the croutons.

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November 20, 2022 2 Comments
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