Experiment with your vegetables

Hilde G. Lee Daily Progress correspondent
Published: May 27, 2008

I frequently experiment with recipes and recipe ideas. This was the case the other day, when I was reading about the traditional French Tart Tatin. It is really an upside-down apple tart made with puff pastry. Thus I thought, “Why not make it with something besides apples?”

How about vegetables? There are many choices, and I decided to give my tart a Mediterranean flavor with eggplant and tomatoes. However, two medium sliced zucchini and four sliced mushrooms could be substituted. Strips of leftover chicken also could be added for an even heartier dish. This tart makes a flavorful luncheon, light supper or brunch.

Root of the story

Vegetables, like fruits, are the edible products of certain plants. There are three types — root, vine and stalk vegetables. They share several characteristics — vegetables are savory rather than sweet; salt is added to the majority of them to make them more palatable and, in most countries, they are served with poultry, meat or fish as part of a meal, or as an ingredient.

All cultivated vegetables stem from primitive varieties, some of whose origins are unknown. However, food historians have told us that many of our present-day vegetables were cultivated back in prehistoric times.

There seems to have been a spontaneous beginning of primitive vegetable farming in widely separate parts of the world — China, the Middle East and South America. By 3000 B.C. the peoples of the Middle East were growing turnips, onions, peas, lentils, leeks, garlic and radishes. The Chinese were growing cucumbers, turnips and radishes. The men building the Great Wall in the third century B.C. were given a regular ration of fermented vegetables, including cabbage, beets, turnips and radishes. These were the regular diet, as meat always was in short supply. The Egyptians who built the pyramids also subsisted on a vegetable diet seasoned with onions and garlic.

Leek in history

From this early cultivation in the Middle East and Asia, vegetables began to spread to Europe. Farmers in lands conquered by the Romans began to grow the crops the Roman introduced — carrots, leeks, artichokes, cauliflower, garlic, onions and lettuces. By the Middle Ages, there was extensive vegetable farming throughout Europe, especially in the Low Countries, where farmers could readily sell their harvest.

Archaeological sites have revealed that squash, beans and corn were grown in Mexico before 5000 BC. Tomatoes and potatoes originated farther south in Peru. The early Peruvians preserved potatoes using a sun-drying technique. They slit and sun-dried their potatoes. By 1000 B.C. the Incas had developed

freeze-drying. They froze potatoes in the snows of the Andes. After allowing them to thaw, they squeezed out the juice until they were dry.

Following the Spanish conquest of parts of the New World in the late 15th century, there was an exchange of crops between the Old World and new. For the next two centuries many of the vegetables we know today were gradually established on both continents. From the Americas came corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, kidney beans, green (French) beans, pumpkins and Jerusalem artichokes. Settlers from Europe introduced to America, broad (fava) beans, chickpeas, radishes, carrots and cabbages. Black-eyed peas, okra and yams came to America with the slaves from Africa.

Over the centuries some vegetables were not immediately accepted. Europeans were skeptical in accepting some of the American vegetables. Tomatoes were thought to be poisonous, but what would Italian cuisine be without them today? It was not until the mid-18th century that the potato was considered edible in England. There it gave a new dimension to the diet of the poor, which had consisted of onion broth, bread and root vegetables.

The invention of the canning process by the French chemist Nicholas Appert at the end of the 18th century and the invention of the process of freezing vegetables by Clarence Birdseye in 1929 made vegetables readily accessible.

Vegetable Tart Tatin

3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium eggplant, sliced lengthwise

1 large red pepper, seeded and cut into long strips

5 medium tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2/3 cup white wine

2 teaspoon chopped fresh basil

2 cups cooked rice

1 (4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained

12 ounces puff pastry, thawed if frozen

Ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add the eggplant and fry on each side for 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Add the pepper strips to the pan and saute them for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Slice two of the tomatoes and set them aside. Plunge the remaining tomatoes briefly in boiling water, then peel them and cut into quarters. Remove the core and seeds. Chop the tomato flesh roughly.

If necessary add a little more olive oil to the pan and add the onion and garlic. Saute until softened. Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook until softened. Stir in the wine, basil and pepper, to taste. Stir in the rice and black olives.

Arrange the tomato slices, eggplant slices and pepper strips in a single layer on the bottom of a heavy 12-inch shallow ovenproof dish or large skillet. Spread the rice mixture on top.

Roll out the pastry into a circle slightly larger than the dish. Place it on top of the rice, tucking the overlap down into the dish. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden brown. Invert the tart onto a large, serving plate. Serve in slices with a green salad. Serves 4.