When you think of casseroles, do the words elegant and beautiful come to your mind? Probably not. Casseroles have many admirable qualities, but they are of the plainer, stodgier sort. Unless, that is, they are French.
The French have an elegant answer to the homey casserole, and it's the Provençal tian. This musical word signifies a gratin, French-style.
A tian doesn't have too much to set it apart from its plainer cousins, but all the variations I've tried have had just an edge of sophistication, a dash of something special. Take this one, for instance, which I learned from Rosa Jackson, a food writer and teacher in Nice, France. It starts with a base of creamy, Parmesan-flecked orange squash, and bakes up with a green crust of garlicky herbed bread crumbs. You can practically taste the South of France: Olive oil, sun-kissed vegetables, garlic and rosemary. This is how the French do casseroles.
I took a cooking class with Rosa a few years ago, and it happened to be just as I was starting to write a cookbook about casseroles. I was looking for fresh inspiration, and I found it in this delicious tian.
It is a little more involved than many of the other casseroles I make. You chop and cook the butternut squash (or pumpkin, or Red Kuri squash — my favorite) until it is soft. Then mash it up with a little parboiled rice to soak up any extra moisture, plus Parmesan and eggs. The topping is a scrumptious Provençal bread crumb mix of parsley, rosemary, olive oil, and garlic. Blended in the food processor, the crumbs turn bright green and make a delightfully colorful topping for the orange squash below.
But the results are so worth it. The squash is creamy yet firm, savory from Parmesan and a traditional French touch of nutmeg. Spooning through you get the taste of all those toasty, garlicky herb and crumbs, then the creamy squash below. It's substantial enough to be a main dish, accompanied by nothing more than a good salad. But it's also a pleasant side dish for chicken, duck, and pork — it sits elegantly on nearly any table, and that's just not something you can say about every casserole. Leave it to the French.
Visit Rosa Jackson
• Rosa's Blog: Rosa Jackson
• Rosa's Cooking Classes: Les Petits Farcis
Butternut Squash Tian with Herbed Bread Crumbs
Recipe adapted from Rosa Jackson. Serves 42 to 2 1/2-pound whole butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
1/4 cup short-grain or arborio rice
2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg
Provencal breadcrumbs (recipe below)
Heat the oven to 375°F and lightly grease a 1 1/2 to 2-quart baking dish (such as a deep pie dish) with olive oil.
Peel and slice the butternut squash. You should have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds prepared squash flesh. Heat the olive oil in a deep sauté pan over medium heat. Cook the squash in the olive oil with a sprinkling of salt until it softens and starts to disintegrate, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cover for most of the cooking time to speed the process.
While the squash is cooking, heat a small saucepan of salted water over high heat. When it is boiling, add the rice. Cook for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Place the cooked pumpkin in a large bowl and combine with the rice, Parmesan, about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and generous dashes of pepper and nutmeg. When it has cooled slightly, mix in the eggs quickly so that they don't scramble. The mixture may seem on the liquid side, but this is fine.
Pour it into the prepared gratin dish, top with the herbed bread crumbs (recipe below) and a generous drizzle of olive oil. (If desired, you can prepare to this point, cover and refrigerate for up to two days. When ready to serve, bake as directed below.)
Bake for 35 minutes or until slightly toasted on top and set. Serve warm.
This recipe doubles very well; I use a 4-pound squash and bake the tian in a 9x13-inch casserole dish.
Herbed Bread Crumbs
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1 big handful flat leaf parsley, leaves only
Leaves from 3 to 4 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
In a food processor, blend together all the ingredients except the olive oil. Add the olive oil and blend until the breadcrumbs are soft and green, adding a little more oil if necessary. Season well with salt and pepper.
Keep airtight in the refrigerator or freezer (in a plastic bag or jar) until you need them.
More Squash & Sweet Potato Casseroles
• Vegetable Lasagna with Butternut Béchamel
• Sweet Potato and Sage Gratin
• Sweet Potato Gratin with Smoky Breadcrumbs
• Sweet Potato Soufflé
(Images: Faith Durand)
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I take it this recipe works well for pumpkin as well? That said, I'll be making this tonight no matter what, probably with butternut squash, it sounds so delicious!
@ROlson, yep, it works very well with pumpkin too. In fact, when I first made this with Rosa, she used a French pumpkin (which I think was closer to Red Kuri). I've made it with all sorts of winter squash and they're all lovely.
This looks so incredibly delicious! I only have one butternut squash at the moment but am expecting more in my CSA delivery tomorrow. I can't wait to try this!
As a lazy person, I would cook the butternut squash in a dutch oven, then throw everything else in there, mix, top with bread crumbs, and bake. No casserole pan! Less fancy, but less dishwashing.
This looks delightful, and like a jazzed-up version of a simple pumpkin and rice dish my mother makes.
This does look wonderful, definitely bookmarking! I suppose it doesn't really matter how you cook the squash to begin with, right? I could just halve it, roast it, and scoop out the flesh? Seems easier than peeling and cutting up...
Faith, I'm so glad you're still cooking this recipe a few years later! We are just starting to see squash at the markets now, so I'll be making the tian again soon. Doesn't tian sound so much nicer than casserole?
This dish is so great, made it last night and it was a major hit with my family, it motivated me to register so I could leave a comment and thank you to Faith for awsome recipe - so THANKS!!!!
I made this last night. It was beautiful and so easy. My husband thought it was so fantastic and he's not a huge butternut squash fan. I only had wild rice on hand and it worked wonderfully, just had to let it cook a bit longer than the arborio rice and added a nutty complex texture and flavor to the dish. I loved the herb bread crumb topping, and will be making that for most bread crumb toppings now, the herbs were so delicious! Thank you!
I just made this. So easy, So amazing! Thanks for such a different and wonderful take on Butternut Squash.
The French can make the simplest things sexy and appealing! I love the herbed bread crumb topping, it could work in so many recipes. This is on my list to try the next time I get my hands on some butternut squash which will be soon. Thanks for sharing this wonderful dish, Faith!
This recipe was AMAZING. Comfort food at its finest, and elegant all the while.
I made this for dinner last night and had to have a second mini-helping. The whole house smells great, and paired with a glass of white wine it was a truly perfect dinner. I've already planned to cook this up and bring to friends when they deliver their new baby. Thank you!!
I just made this for Canadian Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing, it smells amazing and I cant wait to share it and eat it.
So aromatic! And I actually had squash, fresh parsley and fresh rosemary IN THE HOUSE! I had limited cooking time, other dishes to prepare, and this was easy to make with other things going on.
I made this the other week and it was wonderful! It smelled amazing, the breadcrumbs were fantastic, and I learned a fancy new food word :-) It was so good I even posted pictures and my own little variations :-)
Did anyone have an issue with the bread crumbs being too dry? The dish was yummy, but my husband didn't like what he called the sandiness of it. I'll add more olive oil next time, but I wonder if I should just cut back on the bread crumbs.
Yes, I seemed to have way too many breadcrumbs for the topping of this. Despite adding in extra oil they never stuck together enough to form a crust. Being a novice at cooking squash I also had issues with cooking it long enough to get it to soften all the way. The recipe said to peel and slice it, so I sliced it into 1 inch chunks, but it took nearly an hour to cook it down, then I had to pulse it in a food processor to make the texture smoother. It said the texture would be liquid, but mine was still more like a thick paste. Taste wise it was good, but nothing exceptional. Next time I'll know to chop the squash up in much smaller pieces and use far less breadcrumbs.
My husband enjoyed this, but I though it was rather blah. Different strokes for different folks. Thanks for the recipe!