Why can’t vegetables be plentiful and yummy all year long? I don’t know, but I intend to enjoy them while they’re around. This Summer Vegetable Tian is the perfect easy side to showcase the medley of delicious vegetables the summer has to offer.
I like to enjoy the natural subtle flavors of vegetables. I’m not all for frying or smothering with thick, rich sauces, but sometimes I want something a little more. This Summer Vegetable Tian lands half way between both worlds. The vegetables are sliced thin, seasoned only with a little salt, pepper, and thyme, and then topped with just a small amount of flavorful cheese. Roasting the vegetables magnifies their flavor and gives them just a hint of sweetness. It’s veggietastic.
Creamy cheeses work really well with this dish but I happened to have a four cheese Italian blend on hand so I used that.
Summer Vegetable Tian
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.42)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.11)
- 1 medium zucchini ($0.75)
- 1 medium yellow squash ($0.56)
- 1 medium potato ($0.77)
- 1 medium tomato ($0.71)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.10)
- Salt & pepper ($0.05)
- 1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese ($1.40)
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley, optional garnish ($0.08)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté the onion and garlic with olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
- While the onion and garlic are sautéing, slice the zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, and potato thinly (1/4-inch slices). Make sure the potatoes are very thin so that they soften quickly while in the oven.
- Coat the inside of an 8×8″ casserole dish with non-stick spray. Spread the sautéed onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Arrange the other sliced vegetables, stacked vertically like dominos, in an alternating pattern. Season the top of the vegetables generously with salt, pepper, and dried thyme.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with the shredded cheese, and bake without the foil for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown. Top with chopped fresh parsley for garnish, if desired.
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Nutrition
How to Make a Vegetable Tian – Step By Step Photos
Begin by preheating the oven to 400ºF. Dice one yellow onion and mince two cloves of garlic. Sauté the onion and garlic with 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until soft and transparent.
Place the sautéed onion and garlic in the bottom of an 8×8 (or similar size) casserole dish.
Wash one potato, zucchini, yellow squash, and tomato to remove any dirt or debris.
Slice the vegetables into 1/4-inch thick slices. The tomato and potato had very large diameters compared to the squash, so I cut them in half before slicing to make them a more similar size.
Layer the potato, zucchini, yellow squash, and tomato in the dish over the onion and garlic in an alternating pattern. It doesn’t need to be pretty, just squeeze them in there any way you can.
Season the top of the vegetables generously with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.
After baking for 30 minutes, remove the foil and top with about 1 cup of shredded Italian blend cheese. Return the Summer Vegetable Tian to the oven (without the foil) and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
Top with a little fresh chopped parsley for garnish, if desired.
Helllooooo gorgeous.
Original Photos
Could you substitute the potatoes with sweet potatoes instead?
Yes :)
Made this tonight. It was yummy! I greased baking dish with butter, I mixed the sliced veggies with 1 tspn of salt, black pepper to taste, an fresh thyme. I added 10 min to the cook time(pot. not cooked even though they were super thin) Then topped with mozzarella and baked 15 min. Oh and I used to 2 tomatoes. This completed our meal of rice and baked Italian chicken breast.
I kept seeing this recipe in the Top Recipes list and thinking I should try it. Over the past few weeks I have been accumulating an alarming number of squash/zucchini/potatoes from our crop share basket – I new it was time.
Loved it, as did my entire family!
Made this dish and it was a HUGE HIT. From the comments I added all the sliced veggies to a ziploc bag with a little EVOO and Thyme and shook them up so all was evenly coated before lining it up. I also substituted sweet potatoes for white potatoes since I already had them in the house. I posted a few pics of my masterpiece on my blog: http://michelmobababy.blogspot.com/2014/09/colorful-rattoutoulie.html
PS – the only thing I might do different next time is add some breadcrumbs on top along with the cheese
Ohh, I love the idea of tossing the veggies with seasoning in a bag first! Bravo. :)
And I love the sprinkle of bread crumbs idea!
I was just wondering if the potatoes are cook because the other vegetables are soft than the potatoes
I just made this today and it is very tasty! I would definitely use 2 tomatoes instead of just 1 next time. I’ll be making this again!
Yup my first time making tonight and I used 2 tomatoes! One was not enough.
Finally got around to making this with zucchini on sale!
Made this in a enameled 8×8 baking dish, coated with unsalted butter, used sweet potato instead of squash, will use two tomatoes next time, filled in gaps with sun-dried tomatoes that had to be used up, instead of dried thyme I used dried oregano & mixed Parmesan cheese with shredded regular cheese.
Did not have to precook the potatoes beforehand as I sliced them very very thin.
Thank you so much for this recipe, it will be weekly regular!
I just printed this recipe and loved all the suggested changes. Looks like I will have to make these recipes and try them all! So pretty!!!
This recipe is great, it’s so easy and tastes AMAZING! I would definitely recommend it to a friend :) The only changes I made were instead of potato and squash I used sweet potato and added marrow and aubergine just because I had these veggies in my fridge! It wasn’t as colourful but it still looked so GOOD!
I always add eggplant, since we grow many Asian types aling with out marrow. It adds a lot of flavour.
This closely resembles a recipe I made in the past where the potato is replaces with eggplant. The veggies are tossed with S&P, EVOO and generously sprinkled with herbs de provence (yes, with lavender). Each layer is kissed with shaved parmesan and the final layer is coated in panko crumbs, a drizzle or two of butter and more herbs de provence. Spectacular. Your recipe sounds amazing. Might even be good covered in a rich tomato sauce?
I like squash in general. I don’t love it. But I can now say that I LOVE it cooked like this. This was so easy to throw together and it came out fabulously.
The only change I made was I salt & peppered the veggies as I chopped to try and get a more even coating.
I took it as leftovers and it was still awesome. I will be wearing this particular recipe out while squash is still in season.
Does this work well for leftovers as well?
I enjoyed the leftovers, but this is one of those recipes that leftovers will probably be a matter of personal preference. The vegetables will soften more upon reheating and may seep a little water while refrigerated.
I love all of the vegetables that are in this dish. However, this dish did not turn out well at all. Lots of liquid in the bottom of the dish, potatoes were not done, eventhough I cooked them longer. Didn’t have much of a taste. I was disappointed in it. I won’t cook it again.
I made this the first time and realized I was allergic to thyme, so I went with basil this time around, and it’s delicious! Has anyone tried serving this dish chilled? I would like to use this for a party, but it’s going to be outdoors and people will be coming at different times.
Yum! This looks delicious.
I often make a vegetable bake but I layer it horizontally. I use potato, onion, pumpkin and sweet potato. For the ‘sauce’ I use some vegetable (or chicken) stock mixed with a little butter and cream.
This looks like a great alternative. The only thing I’d probably do differently, is to lightly blanch (or microwave) the potatoes so they are semi-soft. Potatoes always take a lot longer and aren’t very nice if still raw. Most of the other vegetables are nice if still a bit crispy so it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t fully cooked through.
Thanks for your amazing inspiration, clear instructions and fabulous pictures.
felicitaciones!!!!!!! me encanto
I love this recipe! Have made it three times already- the first time I followed this recipe exactly and it was phenomenal, but then I wanted to see how creative I could get with it….
Lately when I make this I include yellow and green squash, yellow and green zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, sweet potatoes, yams, and mushrooms. It has worked out great, but I inevitably end up with some extra slices of veggies…and I don’t want to leave any out of my fun little medley!
Does anyone know if I could use these extra slices to make another dish-but instead of eating it right away, could I freeze it?? (It would be awesome if I could have this dish already prepared to devour myself some night after work or to have ready to bring to a friend’s house!) If you think I can freeze this dish, would I slice/prepare and THEN freeze without cooking it? Or would I completely prepare the meal and cook it first (as if planning to eat it immediately), and THEN freeze it? Would the timing of the cheese be altered? I’m trying to relate this to freezing a casserole or lasagna, and it seems doable, but I would love some advice if anyone has already tried to do this. Thank you!!
My hunch is that it wouldn’t freeze well (before or after cooking) because the veggies might get too soft. Freezing breaks down their cell structure, which is okay in dishes where they’ll be really super cooked down (soups, etc.), but this one you kind of want them to still have some texture.
Great Recipe! God Bless!