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
I don’t eat pasta, so when my hubby and kids wanted lasagna for Valentine’s Day, I thought of this recipe for myself. I modified it quite a bit to work with the sauce I was already making for the lasagna, but it was DIVINE! I used just the squash, and I put a thin layer of my meat sauce from the lasagna on the bottom of the dish instead of the onions/garlic, but cooked it as prescribed, and it was perfect. Tonight I’m making your Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin sauce (just the sauce to mix in with some quinoa), and I can’t wait to taste it!
Can you freeze after it is cooked or make ahead of time and freeze??
This one doesn’t work quite as well after freezing. The vegetables will get very soft and soggy.
What type of meat dish would go great with this? I really want to make it but i can’t wrap my head around what the main dish would be like. thanks
This dish is really versatile. I think it would go great with just about any grilled or roasted meat, like Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs, Herb Roasted Pork Loin, or Honey Spice Chicken Thighs.
I was looking at this thinking how well I thought it would go with lake trout poached with lemon & maybe a bit of rosemary & thyme. I think something “citrus-ey” would be really good.
Hi,
Thank you for the nice recipe. I translated into Japanese and added into my site (berlintechnotime.com)! :)
Cheers
I’ve made this three times now and it’s been a hit every time. It always tasted fantastic but I made adjustments each time and the third time was a charm. When using the mandolin, I took the potatoes to one notch thinner than the rest of the vegetables to make sure they fully cooked without over cooking the others. With the third time I took out the seeds from the tomatoes and it lessened the moisture. This will be a family go to for years to come! Thanks!
I think I’ll try this recipe because I want me vegetable options to pull from when cooking, but I dont think I’ll cover the dish with foil. I imagine it would get really watery.
Just made this for dinner. Made some slight changes. Used yams instead of white potato. And they didn’t cook through, but if I would keep the dish longer in the oven quash would be way overcooked.
Also made caramelized onions and put them on top of cheese.
And I used grated parmesan, swiss and gruyere cheese mixed with 1tsp of mayo, finely chopped garlic and smoked paprika.
the flavors were awesome.
The only thing is the dish came out very wet. A lot of juices accumulated on the bottom of the dish. And the juices could be used as a sauce for the chicken or other protein. But I’m still wondering if there is a way to make it a little dryer?
maybe just try the recipe like it is.. and see how well it turns out for you , instead of making any changes.. and go from there.. =) I however can not wait to make this OHHH its soo pretty..
I think you may have sealed the water/steam into the dish with the cheese….sounds great but no where for steam to vent…..also salt lets water out of tomato slices right off the bat….
I have made this a few times and also make smaller ramekin sized and shirred egg dish sized all at one time to share when done or ez to re heat later…cuts down on the size of the maid dish tho with less water overall it seems…..
Go to allrecipies and join the rest of cooks w/o change the recipe then whine.
Made this dish this week and it was a huge hit!
I didn’t have any thyme on hand so instead used a sprinkle of dried oregano, and for extra flavour a sprinkle of ‘all purpose seasoning’. Perfect! Healthy and great for leftovers too :)
I tried this recipe for the first time tonight and it was AMAZING!!! Seriously my significant other doesn’t normally eat vegetables and he finished the rest of the pan! I didn’t use tomatoes and didn’t have thyme so I used a “Italian seasonings” blend instead. Again, AWESOME and I will be making this all the time now! Thanks
hi! can I substitute yellow squash for other type of squash? and cucumber instead of zucchini? would there be a difference in the taste? thanks!
If you use another type of squash, it needs to be a soft summer squash rather than a hard winter or autumn squash. Or, you can just leave the yellow squash out. Cucumber probably wouldn’t work with this dish, though.
This looks heavenly. I am definitely going to try it out. However, I was wondering if this would taste okay cold?
Personally, I don’t think I would like this one cold.
I like it cold – it sets more and slices well – I then serve with green salad leaves and fresh crusty sour dough bread. Yum.
Hi, i was just wondering why the onions are diced and on the bottom instead of sliced and stacked with the other ingredients, would that be an option?
Yes, I think you could definitely do that. :)
I actually skip out on sauteing the onions and garlic alltogether and put the onions in with the rest of the vegetables and it turns out amazing in the order that I do it because the onions are next to the tomatoes and the flavor is great that way. going to reduce the time of the tin foil being on aswell to reduce the amount of liquid at the bottom of the pan
Something is wrong with the recipe. I followed the recipe exactly, but my Tian was all watery at the bottom. I think the Zucchini needs to be salted first and than the excess water should be squeezed out to avoid this kind of mishap.
Please advise.
I just made this and it looks delicious. I am thrilled to be able to share this dish with family for dinner.
We made this recipe SO MANY TIMES this summer! It’s so delicious, even with so few ingredients, and exceedingly cheap if you can get the squash/zucchini for free from your garden, a neighbor’s garden, or 5/$1 at the farmer’s market. I don’t even really like squash, either. We use red potato, and after making a few times, we upped the proportion of potato to everything else, but just because I love potato ;).