Romertopf Clay Baker Tips for Less-Fatty Meals

We know that clay cooking allows to cook without any additives like water, fats, oils, or other liquids and therefore is ideal for dieters or those with health concerns. As early as today, you can begin planning for your healthy holiday menu with the special focus on healthier recipes for the family. It's not hard, all you need is to include herbs and spices, butter, beer or wines will produce even better results.

A nutritious diet is essential to maintain good health as we have been told since we were small children but even the healthiest foods can lose nutritional using some of the modern quick preparation methods. Some of today's cooking techniques can deplete nutrients in food (over-steamed vegetables) or add fat (frying meat or fish). Fast cooking using press grills, microwave ovens and other styles allow valuable nutrients to escape as well. Ordering meals delivered from Waiters on Wheels or others does not address these cooking method issues either.

Cooking the Romertopf way avoids over-cooking while it eliminates the need for added fats. Soaking the Romertopf in water before it is placed inside the oven allows it to create and maintain moisture that cooks ingredients to perfection, while holding the nutrients inside the clay pot.

Get meals that are moist, tender, flavorful and browned with no need for basting. Meats can be trimmed of all fat, poultry can be cooked without skin and vegetables can be cooked without a great deal of preparation. Meat, potatoes, rice and vegetables can all be cooked together to make one-pot meals that are nutritious and flavorful.
Romertopf clay pot cooking not only saves nutrients, but also saves time. Simply soak the Romertopf in water for 5-10 minutes, place ingredients inside and place the whole pot in a cold oven set at 400-450 degrees.

Then just leave it alone! 45 minutes to an hour later the Romertopf clay pot has cooked your meal to perfection. Take the clay pot to the table (they work as serving dishes as well).

Ingredients:

- 5 medium fresh tomatoes, cored, sliced about ¼ inch thick
- 2 large sweet peppers, can be green, red, yellow or any combination, cut in half and cut into julienne strips
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or less if you prefer)
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large eggplant or 3-4 small ones, sliced about ¼ inch thick
- 3-4 small zucchini or summer squash, sliced about ¼ inch thick

Directions:

Clay baker normally need to be soaked in cold water for 10 to 15 mintues before use. This is the case for Romertopf where both the top and bottom need to be soaked. Since the bottom of the Schlemmertopf baker is glazed only the top needs to be soaked.

For this recipe, use a regular baker which is approximately the size of a 9 x 13 pan or try the Romertopf vegetable baker. To start the Tian, cover the bottom of your baker with a layer of sliced onions and them top them with the julienne peppers. Sprinkle the sliced garlic and the red pepper. over the onions and peppers.

To build the Tian first start by placing a row of sliced tomatoes along the long side of the baker. Be sure to overlap each slice by about one half to two thirds of the slice. Next do a row of eggplant in a similar fashion again overlapping each slice. And then due a row of the squash, summer squash or zucchini, which ever your prefer.

Continue this process starting again with the tomatoes, then eggplant, the squash and so on until the entire pan is filled with rows of vegetables. This should result in several rows of colorful vegetables in a consistent pattern. Now sprinkle the chopped basil over everything and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top of everything, if desired.

Put the cover on the clay baker. Put the tian into a cold oven. Set the temperature to 450 degrees and when the oven gets to the target temperature, bake for about 45 minutes. This time will vary depending upon the amount and thickness of the vegetable in your baker.

Your vegetable tian will be bursting with flavor and will present and exotic array of colors when put on your table. Use your creativity to experiment with mushrooms, other vegetables and possibly some cheeses to develop your own personal favorite mixture.
* 3 medium onions, peeled, sliced about ¼ inch thick