Tian of provencal vegetables

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 125ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• ¼ cup roughly chopped basil
• 1 large (600g) eggplant, cut into 5mm-thick slices
• 1 large potato, peeled, thinly sliced width wise
• 1 large (350g) zucchini (baby marrow), thinly sliced into rounds
• 4 ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 40g gruyere (or any strong and matured cheddar cheese or parmesan), thinly sliced
• Baby flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Method:

1. Combine crushed garlic, oil, flat-leaf parsley and basil in a bowl and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Preheat grill to high.
3. Place eggplant slices on an oven tray and brush generously with herb mixture. Grill for 5 minutes or until golden.
4. Preheat oven to 180°C.
5. In a shallow 28cm x 32cm baking dish, arrange a line of potatoes slightly overlapping, then line alternately with tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant, repeating the sequence to fill the dish.
6. Tuck gruyere slices between the different vegetables and brush with three-quarters of the remaining herb mixture.
7. Bake tian on the top shelf in the oven for 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender and browned around edges.
8. Brush with remaining herb mixture, and serve hot or at room temperature, scattered with baby flat-leaf parsley.