Italian Eggplant Tiella

A tiella is a straight sided, earthenware casserole dish, shaped like a souffle dish

1 1/3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, chopped & drained (in winter canned tomatoes will do)
1 pound eggplant
1 pound potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 large sweet onion, sliced 
3  ribs celery, finely minced 
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons minced parsley
finely minced oregano or basil
Olive oil
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Trim the stems and bottoms of the eggplant, slice them thin, salt them, and put them in a colander for about an hour, during which time the salt will draw out the bitter juices. Then rinse them and pat them dry. You may peel the eggplant or not as you wish.
Thinly slice the potatoes and onions.

Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).

Oil a large oven-proof dish and make layers of vegetables, seasoning each layer with just a little salt, pepper, herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. When you reach 1/2" of the top of the dish, drizzle a little more olive oil over the top and bake until the juices from the vegetables are absorbed.  It should be dry enough to slice easily.  Let sit for 20 minutes before serving.  

Ooh, I may have to try this out this weekend!  I've been looking for good vegetarian recipes since I gave up meat for Lent.  Thanks!  About how large is the dish that you use?

I use a 2 1/2 quart souffle dish with straight sides.  The amounts I gave in the recipe are approximate.  This can also be made with zucchini, but it tends to be very juicy, so I prefer eggplant.  There are variations of this dish all over Italy.  In Tuscany, they do one with portabella mushrooms.  I'd like to try that too.