Tourlou

[RubyDuby]

2 small zucchini (courgette), chopped into small bite sized pieces
1 anaheim pepper, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 lg vidalia onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 15 oz can of tomatoes, including the juice
handful fresh parsley, washed and chopped
1 eggplant with a few strips of skin peeled off (striped) chopped into bite sized pieces
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 Celsius).
cover bottom of glass casserole dish with the oil, saving 2Tbs, then layer the vegetables:
first the eggplant, then peppers, zucchini, chickpeas, onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper. then drizzle the top with the 2 Tbs oil.
bake 20 min. before turning the oven down to 400.
Bake an additional 30 minutes.
Check occasionally while it’s baking to make sure there’s still some liquid in the bottom of the pan.
If it gets dry or starts browning on the bottom, add 1/4 cup water.
Stir to make sure the parsley gets incorporated, then cook 30 more minutes.
It's done when the eggplant is very soft.

[harpy]

Mmm, I've had that in Turkish restaurants so I ought to try making it really. What is an anaheim pepper like - not that hot I imagine?

[missbettie]

no they are really mellow.

That looks really yummy!! not sure my bf would eat it though. damn picky man.

[RubyDuby]

you should make it for you and have leftovers for lunch. mmmm.
He might want to try it if he smells it.

Harpy- anaheim peppers are a lot like bell peppers, but not as green tasting. in fact you can sub in 1/2 a bell pepper instead.

[timberly]

that looks gooooood!

[harpy]

Thanks Ruby - we don't generally have a great choice of peppers in the supermarkets here, although they sometimes have more than one kind now

[missbettie]

i wanna try to make this tonight, and i think it will be pretty cheap to make which is a really good thing.

do you eat it with anything else? like rice or something?

[RubyDuby]

awesome. let me know how you like it!
We didn't, but it would be good with rice.

[sandra]

That looks really tasty RubyDuby. I'm going to have a go at that!

[missbettie]

I made this, it was really good but i think i used too much oil...i just ate it with a piece of toast, it was super yummy!!!!!

the boyfriend didn't like it though...too many veggies! lol

[RubyDuby]

lol, the oil is what makes it goood. No, I know it is a lot of oil. It runs off the top of it in the restaurant.

[missbettie]

and then reheating it, it gets soggy with the oil. I dunno...I really liked it, it was really awesomely fabulous, the eggplant was AWESOME!!! I only used one zuchinni though..the parsely is definately a must in it!

[RubyDuby]

I'm glad you liked it. The restaurant we go to gives such a small portion and it's so good I'm happy to have found a decent recipe!

[RubyDuby]

So... we originally made this because it is so delicious at our favorite Mediterranean place, but our version looks nothing like what we get there. It's still tasty, but you know how you can never duplicate food you get out? It's annoying! Anyway, we went last night and our waitress was a sweetheart. She gave us a bunch of tips and inside secrets to their extra delicious version.

First of all, after cutting the eggplant into bite sized pieces they deep-fry it in peanut oil!

They don't use zucchini or parsley.

Instead of tomatoes they use a marinara with a secret ingredient. (saffron! shhh )

They throw everything into a pot on the stove instead of baking it, and throw whole cloves of garlic in to simmer for an hour to an hour and a half.

There is also a much higher ratio of eggplant and tomato sauce to chickpeas. There were only a few chickpeas sprinkled in instead of being a main part of the meal.

We haven't tried the new method... maybe someday when I'm not trying to lose the pudge. Luckily they aren't very liberal with the portions... something I used to complain about.

[RubyDuby]

The appetizer platter at the restaurant. The tourlou is on the far left.

[harpy]

I forgot to say I did make this a while ago, thanks, Ruby. It went a bit wrong through user error (I didn't switch the oven on properly so ended up doing it on top of the cooker rather than eat at 3 a.m. ) but it was still excellent. In fact looking at your later message this may not be as much of a heresy as I thought?

[RubyDuby]

did it look more like the second pic?

[harpy]

I suppose it was quite sort of collapsed, but possibly not as much as the 2nd pic because I didn't cook it all that long in the circs. I did follow the proportions in the original recipe, and very good it was too.

Have got an aubergine and some peppers in this week's veg box so might take the opportunity to have another go!