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.
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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
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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
Tried this tonight. I used a sweet potato, a white potato, tomato, and yellow squash. It cooked for 30+ mins under foil and then another 40 mins with the cheese and no foil—still not done. I’ve now added moisture to the dish to speed things along. It tastes fine, but I’m not sure where I messed up. Maybe the two potatoes were too much for the natural juices from squash and tomato?
That’s a good guess, but then even a whole potato with no moisture usually becomes tender after an hour of baking. Maybe because the pieces are so close together there isn’t a lot of air flow and that makes it take longer, despite the fact that they’re sliced thin. Hmmm.
love this! How many calories would you say per serving?
Looks good, can’t wait to try it. Just curious – sweet potato vs plain potato?? any thought?
Some other people have said they’ve used sweet potato and enjoyed it, although I think plain potato works better with these flavors.
@Bzits3 And if your going to call someone out you should learn how to spell or at least read your comment over for typos before you press send. btw made this tonight and it’s great, thanks!
Looks like you used two tomatoes to me. Not sure if it was mentioned in the posts. Thank you for the recipe!
It was one tomato that was cut in half before slicing. I cut it in half because the diameter was so much larger than the other vegetables, and I wanted the pieces to be closer to the same size. Other people have thought that it was two tomatoes too, but it’s just the way it looks in the photo. :)
I am making it for the second time this month and I absolutely loved the mix of flavors. My husband was very impressed.
i did this but mixed panko with the cheese and added twice the suggested amount of thyme and more salt and pepper. It was delicious!
I loved this, and I don’t even like squash! I followed some of the advice here in the comments and scooped out the tomato seeds, salted the potato & squash for about 10 minutes to draw out moisture, and cooked a little longer. It was perfect, not soupy at all. Will definitely make again.
How much extra cooking time did you do?
Would this work with mozzarella and/or cheddar?
I don’t have Italian cheese blend, but I have everything else needed.
The mozzarella would be best. :)
I’ve been making this recipe for years but change it up a bit. I’m commenting because something really bothers me when a person uses someone else’s recipe and doesn’t give credit where it is due. I originally got the recipe from Just a Pinch and the poster said she got it from a Facebook group page. The first picture you post isn’t even yours. Proper Netiquette says that you should credit those who you get information and pictures from.
Yes, these are my photos. Unfortunately my photos have been stolen and shared across the internet without credit. I have the entire set of photos from the original photo shoot still on my hard drive.
Thank you for this recipe! Why are some people so negative and accusatory. :(. I love your recipes! Thanks Beth!
Anybody who thinks you invented tians needs to get out more. This is just your version of it. Duh!
@Bzits3 If you are so keen on trying to call people out on credit, you should know that a simple google image back search would bring your to the original poster aka HERE.
Beth, ignore these jerks.
I tried this recipe last night, and there was a large amount of liquid rendered by the vegetables by the 30-minute mark. I gave them another 30 minutes, and finally gave up and added the cheese and baked till golden.
Did anyone come up with a way to reduce the liquid? I used a hot-house tomato; would a roma have been better?
This recipe was horrible! I love cooking and make delicious food. But on Sunday I served this Vegetable Tian with grilled sausages. My husband and I sat there crunching through raw potato. Next time I try this recipe I will increase cooking time by 15 minutes. Hopefully that will improve the end results of this dish.
I made this last night. I used a pie dish with a slightly pre baked Pillsbury Pie Crrust. Sliced veggies and layered them into pie crust including sliced not diced onion. Covered all with foil and baked (400) fo 25 mins. In a skillet I added 1tbs+ of chopped garlic plus 2 tbs olive oil on med for 1 or 2 mins. Next removed foil and poured the hot oil over veggies recovered with foil and returned to oven(10)mins.next step was remove foil and add cheese.(6-10)mins. The crust helped soak up liquid in bottom but not all. Some potato was not cooked enough. Maybe potatoes should be pre-boiled before adding. After I cut the 1st slice I used a spoon and removed the excess liquid in bottom. Will make this again
This was wonderful. I’m not a great cook, but it was easy enough for me. The only place I had a problem was that the onions were very wet on the bottom and didn’t stick to the tian unless I used a spoon. What did I do wrong? Did I dice them too small or did I cook them too long?
Still tasted great and many people were very impressed. I’m making it again this week!
I am currently seeing the same issue (still baking it!) and I think it is the zucchini’s that release the moisture and create the water at the bottom. I’m not sure how to avoid it though!
I found when using sliced squash and zucchini or eggplant slicing them then lightly salting them and letting them rest for 30 minutes let’s a lot of that water come out beforehand and Seasons them really well too!
Delicious! I was looking for a way to incorporate more veggies in my diet and this will definitely be a staple. Sooo good thanks :)
This won’t cost 6.60 olive oil isnt 11c.
Maybe for how much you use but I don’t have any and I never have cheese unless I buy it for a recipe so it will cost a little more.
You might want to take a look at the post Beth made here:
https://www.budgetbytes.com/2009/05/prices-and-portions/
it explains why things are priced the way they are. :)
Do you have recipes for people with gout? I realize I can make adjustments. Just wondering. Thank you. The tian looks wonderful.
I’m sorry, I don’t have any recipes specifically for gout. I’m not familiar with what dietary needs gout sufferers have.