PETITS FARCIS DE PROVENCE

PETITS FARCIS DE PROVENCE image

Number Of Ingredients 14

8 small onions, center flesh cut out with a knife and scooped out
8 sweet red pepper cups (bottom half of pepper) seeds removed
8 medium tomatoes, center flesh scooped out
8 summer-type round zucchini, center flesh scooped out (retain scooped-out flesh for stuffing)
salt and pepper to taste
1 thick slice ham, diced
1/2 smoked Polish sausage, diced
3 cloves garlic
all the scooped-out flesh of vegetables
a few sprigs of parsley
4 slices white bread, torn into pieces, soaked in 1 c cream (reserve extra cream)
3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Steps:

Boil onions and sweet peppers, separately, in salted water for about 10 minutes. Drain well. Arrange all vegetables in a shallow baking dish (you may need 2). Sprinkle the inside with a little salt and pepper and fill them with stuffing. Stuffing: Place all ingredients (except eggs and reserved cream) in mixer. Pulse until chopped fairly fine, but not pureed. Remove to a bowl. Mix in the well-beaten eggs. Add the rest of the cream if needed to obtain a firm, manageable stuffing. Check for seasonings (should be well-seasoned). Fill the veggies, mounding stuffing with a back of spoon. Drizzle a little olive oil over and around veggies. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour and check. If top browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil and reduce temperature. Continue baking for two or three hours, until vegetables are very soft--practically melting and lightly caramelized around the edges. Serve warm or cold. Wine: a rose would go beautifully with this dish.