Tumbet

Tumbet

On the Balearic Islands there is made a vegetable dish which one must regard as being in some measure related to the family of stews I've discussed on this board (see link in the boumiano thread (link)) and elsewhere but which has its own unique method of preparation. Here i refer to tumbet, a dish which involves the separate frying of several individual vegetables and the preparation of a tomato sauce, then the assembly of a layered casserole which is then baked. As always, there exist a number of variations of the dish and a not too heretical version I made recently, which included, however, one personal touch that deviates from the Balearic recipes I've seen, namely, the addition of a little feta cheese to a couple of the layers. Potatoes, eggplants, zucchini were all fried separately. A tomato sauce built on a soffritto of onions and peppers (both piquant and sweet) was also prepared. I served the tumbet, to my mind, a l'española, that is, with a couple of fried eggs.

Heus aqui, fadrins!



This dish really pleases me; the combination of the frying and the subsequent baking changes considerably the taste profile.

Of course, the mainland Catalan xamfaina or the almost identical Provençal boumiano or ratatouia is just as good:


http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=40962#40962

Bon profit!
Antonius