Weekly Nosh - Vegetable Torta (adapted and improved from Cook's Illustrated)

This is a rather labor intensive recipe, but if you have the time it is totally worth it. Be sure to set aside 2 hours and with this recipe. It is also helpful to assemble a team to assist in Torta construction.

Serves 4-5 as a main course or 7-8 as a nosh

Ingredients

Vegetables:

5 medium sized Japanese eggplant (the purple kind)

6 medium tomatoes

4 ears of corn

1 Garlic

2 red bell peppers

Custard:

3 eggs

¼ cup heavy cream

7-10 sprigs fresh thyme

7-10 chives

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup shredded asiago

Crust:

4 slices white sandwich bread

4 tbls butter

1 cup asiago

Instructions:

 Peel the eggplants and cut them into half inch circles. Sprinkle both sides liberally with salt then arrange them on a wire rack to remove some of the liquid. After 30 minutes rinse of excess salt and pat them with a towel to remove more moisture. While the eggplant is draining set your oven to 450. Cut the top and bottom of your head of garlic wrap tightly in tin foil add 2 tbls of olive oil to your foil and put in the oven to roast.

De-seed and rib your peppers and cut them into long strips then drizzle with olive oil and s&p. Arrange them on a wire rack with the eggplant when their done draining and put them in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until nicely roasted.

While vegetables are roasting cut tomatoes into slices then place them onto papers towels and liberally salt them to remove moisture periodically patting them down. De-husk your corn and rub them down with oil. To roast the corn simply put the ears under and open flame to char. You want them to get black and charred ( if you do not have a gas range you can do this in a hot pan although you will not get as good of a char). Now onto the crust.

Pulse bread in food processor and pour in slowly your butter and shredded cheese. Pulse until well processed. Now grease you spring form pan with butter and start spreading your crust on the bottom and sides of your pan. Then process your custard ingredients and place aside. Now start layering your vegetables alternating layer of vegetable then sprinkling of asiago and layer of custard. Sprinkle top layer with any left of crumb and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 60-90 minutes or until custard has set and top as nicely browned. Let cool for ten minutes then nosh.