Stuffed vegetables from Nice are typical of Nice. There are a multitude of ways to cook them, so there are many different recipes. However, there is a traditional basis. Like many other Nice dishes, they originated in modest culinary circles. Leftover meats were used, such as heels of ham and leftovers from cooked dishes like daube niçoise, or sometimes they were prepared without meat at all. As for vegetables, we used those from the Nice region and, by extension, from the Mediterranean basin.

The preparation consists of hollowing out the vegetables, stuffing them with a stuffing composed of their flesh, meat or not, hardened bread crumbs boiled in milk, olive oil and herbs (herbs, garlic, breadcrumbs, parmesan) and cook them in the oven.

Having lived my childhood in Provence, my mother prepared tomatoes stuffed with sausage meat and rice at the time. There are variations, as many vegetables can be stuffed such as zucchini flowers, potatoes, cabbage, etc.

I therefore present to you my recipe of Stuffed vegetables from Nice which I find delicious, which has the merit of following tradition and which falls neither into the excesses of modesty nor into the failings of gourmet cuisine.

Ingredients for Stuffed vegetables from Nice

• 2 onions (small size approximately 5cm)
• 4 tomatoes (small size approximately 5cm)
• 4 round zucchini (small size approximately 5cm)
• 2 eggplants (small size approximately 5cm)
• 2 peppers (small size approximately 5cm)
• A base of meat and a bouquet garni for the broth.
• 150 g of chopped veal
• 150 g of ground beef
• 150 g of ground pork (7% fat) or sausage meat (21% fat)
• 80 g of chopped ham
• 50 g of hard bread softens with milk.
• 50 g of parmesan (piece to grate)
• 1 egg
• Herbs of Provence and basil (30g basil leaf)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Breadcrumbs for cooking.

Preparation of vegetables

• Prepare a broth with a bouquet garni and a stock of meat if possible.
• Cut a hat from the top of the raw tomato, empty them and keep the hats.
• Peel the onions and cut them in half, perpendicular to the direction of the fibers.

• Cut the vegetables in half except the tomatoes; empty the peppers.
• Pre-cook each type of vegetable separately in the broth for a few minutes so that they become just crunchy except the tomatoes.
• Start with onions, eggplants and peppers (10 min), then zucchini (6 min).
• Disgorge all the vegetables for about 3 hours to remove the pre-cooking water.
• Remove the leaves from the onions, reserve 8 onion leaves to garnish
• Chop the rest of the onions and set aside to cook the meat.
• Once the vegetables are pre-cooked, cut and disgorged, remove the flesh from the zucchini and eggplant, mix it with the peeled garlic and set aside for the stuffing.

Preparing the stuffing

• Mix the meats and brown them for a few minutes in olive oil with the chopped onions and Provençal herbs. Salt and pepper to your liking.
• Soften the bread in the milk by heating lightly in a saucepan.
• Grate the parmesan.
• Mix everything with the flesh of the vegetables (zucchini, eggplant) in a large container, adding the egg to bind the stuffing
• Salt and pepper to your liking one last time.

Preparing the stuffed niçois vegetables

• Stuff the vegetables then place them in a baking dish, sprinkle the stuffed with breadcrumbs and put in the oven preheat to 180° C for 20 minutes or grill for a few minutes to color the vegetables then lower the temperature to 140 °C for at least 1 hour to finish cooking at low temperature.

Tips & advice

• To make the vegetables disgorge more quickly, you can dry them a little on a baking sheet in a 100° C oven for 30 min.
• If you don’t have hard bread, you can make croutons in olive oil or put bread in the oven for a few minutes.
• Pay attention to the crust of the bread; either mix it or make it very tender.

Original ideas (Antho’s corner)

1. Change vegetables with zucchini flowers, potatoes, cabbage, etc.
2. Change the composition of the stuffing.