Possibly one of the best ways to simply cook summer vegetables at their peak.

This is a classic French summertime vegetable preparation, and requires high-quality ingredients for it to be at its peak. I recommend home-grown or farmers' market produce for this, as it will really shine if everything is super fresh. 

Any sweet pepper can be used, from a bell to a more heirloom variety - just go for quality. Get a nice mix of tomatoes for this, from bigger slicers to tiny, sweet cherry tomatoes like sungolds or sweet 100s. 

The only trick to cooking the tian is cooking the zucchini and tomatoes until all the liquid is gone and they start to caramelize and darken a bit. This concentration of all the layered flavors is what makes this so very nice.

serves 4

4 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 sweet pepper, thinly sliced

salt and pepper

1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (I like to use a mandolin)

a handful of fresh basil leaves

about 2 cups of fresh tomatoes, assorted in size and shape, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds, or halved if using smaller cherry-type tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, sliced

4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cook the onion and sweet pepper in a medium pan in 1 tbsp of the olive oil until softened, but not browned. Season with salt and pepper and layer into a medium round casserole dish or other baking dish. Toss the basil leaves and zucchini with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Layer the zucchini over the onion in a spiral pattern if you like. Next, add the tomatoes, filling the entire top layer completely with a variety of sliced, halved and otherwise cut tomatoes. Top this with the sliced garlic and the thyme leaves. Season the tomatoes and garlic with salt and pepper, then drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil over the top. Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes or until browned lightly on the top and no liquid remains in the dish (except for maybe some olive oil). Allow to cool slightly and serve with fish, grilled turkey or roasted chicken.