Petits Farcis Niçois — Cook

Ingredients

The vegetables
5 medium tomatoes, cored and scooped, flesh reserved
3 medium courgettes, halved lengthwise, hollowed with a melon baller, flesh reserved
2 medium aubergines, halved, flesh scored in a cross-hatch, briefly roasted then scooped, flesh reserved
2 medium peppers, caps removed, deseeded
2 large onions, parboiled 5 minutes, cored, flesh reserved
For the stuffing (farce)
300 g sausage meat or lean pork mince
80 g fresh breadcrumbs, soaked in milk and squeezed dry
50 g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra for topping
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small bunch basil, chopped
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 egg, beaten
to taste salt and black pepper
To finish
60 ml olive oil, for oiling the dish and drizzling generously over the stuffed vegetables
30 g fresh breadcrumbs, for topping

Method

1
Pre-treat each vegetable according to its nature. Parboil the onions in salted water for 5 minutes, drain, and core them, reserving the flesh. Cap and deseed the peppers. Halve the courgettes lengthwise and hollow with a melon baller, reserving the flesh. Halve the aubergines, score the flesh in a cross-hatch, roast briefly until yielding, then scoop out the flesh. Core and scoop the tomatoes. Collect all reserved flesh in a bowl. The cook knows this stage is complete when every shell sits stable and hollow, ready to receive the stuffing.
2
Chop all reserved vegetable flesh coarsely and squeeze it firmly in a clean cloth to expel as much moisture as possible. Do the same with the milk-soaked breadcrumbs. Combine the squeezed vegetable flesh and breadcrumbs with the sausage meat, grated Parmesan, crushed garlic, basil, parsley, beaten egg, salt, and pepper. Work the mixture until homogeneous and well-seasoned. The filling must hold its own against the sweetness of the vegetables — season generously. Taste the raw mixture and adjust. This is where the dish lives or dies: a wet or under-seasoned farce cannot be corrected once the vegetables are in the oven.
3
Oil a large gratin dish generously with olive oil. Fill each vegetable shell with the farce, pressing it in without over-packing — the filling should sit level with or just slightly proud of the rim, not domed. Arrange the stuffed vegetables together in the dish. Scatter fresh breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan over each, then drizzle generously with olive oil. The dish is ready for the oven when every vegetable is filled, topped, and the gratin dish is fragrant with raw olive oil.
4
Bake at 180 °C for 40 to 50 minutes. The dish is done when a skewer meets no resistance in the thickest vegetable, and the breadcrumb-and-Parmesan crust on every piece is deeply golden and set firm. The surface should show colour, not pallor.
5
Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the gratin dish. Serve at room temperature — tepid, not hot. At temperature the complex interplay of roasted vegetable, seasoned pork, herbs, and olive oil is fully legible. Pressed straight from the oven, the flavours are muddled by heat and the textures not yet settled.