About Arthur: The New York Times Magazine called Arthur Schwartz “a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge.” As the restaurant critic and executive food editor of the New York Daily News, which he was for 18 years, he was called The Schwartz Who Ate New York. Nowadays, he is best known as The Food Maven, the name of his website. Whatever the sobriquet, he is acknowledged as one of the country’s foremost experts on food, cooking, culinary history, restaurants, and restaurant history.
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15% off Extra virgin olive oil handcrafted from Villa Cappelli in Puglia, Italy. Experts say that the olive oil from Puglia is some of the most palatable in the world, characterized by its digestibility and high vitamin content.
1/2 Liter~16.9 ounces, regularly
$20.00, now $17 for tomatoes. Buy now.
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Arthur Schwartz's Newest Cookbook. Available at Amazon and major booksellers everywhere.
Provencal Tian, By Popular Demand
The recipe comes from Rozanne Gold's book, Little Meals, available in paperback by Little, Brown. I've made it a number of times myself, so the following version is ever so slightly different than Rozanne's. You know how it is: A cook can't help but put in his own two cents. Incidentally, the French ProvenÇal word TIAN refers to both a ceramic casserole and the dish cooked in it.
Rozanne Gold's Tian of Eggplant, Onions and Tomatoes
Serves as many as 10 to 12
1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds)
4 medium-large onions (about 2 pounds)
6 large, ripe tomatoes (about 3 pounds)
1 1/2 tablespoons mixed dried herbs, such as thyme, crushed rosemary, winter savory; or pre-mixed herbes de Provence, or about 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs such as above
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Slice the eggplant (no need to peel), onions and tomatoes as thinly as possible.
In a 12 by 8-inch rectangular or oval baking dish, make a layer of onions, then eggplant, then tomatoes.
Sprinkle with about 3/4 teaspoon of the dried herbs and the same amount of fresh basil. Sprinkle with some of the salt and pepper
Repeat the layers, sprinkling each with herbs, salt and pepper. End with a layer of onions.
Pour the olive oil over the vegetables.
Place in a preheated 300-degree oven for about 3 hours. While the vegetables bake, press them down with a wide spatula/hamburger turner about every 30 minutes and remove accumulating liquid with a bulb baster or large kitchen spoon. At first the liquid will be just from the vegetables. Eventually, you will be drawing off oil as well. (Save the juices for another use: for a soup or stew base, cooked down slightly as a sauce for pasta, or simply for dunking bread.)
When done, the vegetables will have reduced in volume by at least a third and they should be soft and compact. The top layer of onions should be well caramelized. Timing is approximate: it make take as much as an hour longer.
Let cool at least slightly before cutting into squares and serving. Or serve at room temperature.
