Since my childhood I have heard stories of my mother birthday requests for Tomates Farcis and Mousse Au Chocolat for dessert. The dish, in my mind has always been a quintessential representation of French, and more specifically, Provençal cuisine. Comforting and hearty, the dish is served throughout the mediterranean with variations of fillings, ranging from the traditional provencal farce, a mixture of ground meat (usually, veal beef or pork), bread crumbs garlic and herbs de provence to rice and grain based mixtures.
Photo by: Chloe Landrieu Murphy
Though Tomates Farcis are most common many regional vegetables like eggplant, onion and zucchini flowers are filled with farce and baked into a beautifully easy and satisfying meal.
Légumes Farcis à La Provençal
Ingredients
- 3 medium sized tomatoes
- 3 medium sized eggplants
- 2 onions
- 500g Ground pork and veal sausage mixture, or ground beef
- 2 eggs
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons herbs de provence
- 1 cup bread crumbs and larger pieces of baguette with crust removed
- salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut off the top half inch of each tomato and gently spoon out the core and pulp, placing them in a bowl then setting aside. Halve the eggplants lengthwise and remove the flesh leaving half an inch to the skin, sprinkle eggplants with salt then set aside. Halve onions and remove skin and interior layers so only the outer shells of the onion remain, set aside.
- In a large bowl mix the meat mixture, garlic, eggs, herbs de provence, bread crumbs, remaining tomato pulp and salt and pepper.
- Fill the vegetables with mixture, place in a dish with high edges and drizzle with olive oil. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour then serve with rice, enjoy!