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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
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
Anon – I’ve never tried freezing this one. It might change the texture some because of the way vegetables break down when frozen, but I’m not completely sure.
can i freeze this (sans cheese) then bake later?
I didn’t use the potatoes because after reading the reviews it sounded as though it may not cook properly and replaced it with eggplant and portabello mushrooms. Came out fantastic!
I have made this several times…..my husband just loves it!! Thank you so much for sharing.
This is SO good. My husband said it was one of the best summer dishes he’s ever had! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I’m making this this weekend for company. I’ve read that people are having issues with the potatoes. Has anyone tried slicing, washing, then putting them in between towels to dry. I make fries that easy and they are so crispy and cook faster. Just a thought. Can’t wait to try it.
I’ve book marked so many of your recipes just now that I had to just stop and bookmark your home page. You’re incredible!!!
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!
My kitchen is now complete. Who needs a cookbook with awesome bloggers like you?
Tia – That *might* work, although I’d be concerned about it getting soupy towards the bottom. Also, I’m not sure how long it would need to cook to prevent the vegetables from over cooking. If you experiment with it, please let us know how it turns out!
I would love to try this in the slow cooker…stacking up instead of sideways…do you think it would work?
Amy – Yeah, I know it can seem misleading, but this is the method that restaurants use to calculate the cost of their recipes. Although you may pay upfront for some ingredients, the remainder of the cost gets spread out over the other times you use it. So, if you buy a $6 bottle of olive oil for this recipe, the cost here may go up but then that oil is basically “free” the next 20 times you use it. So, to more accurately represent the cost of a recipe, you just calculate the cost of the actual amount of each item you use, rather than the upfront cost.
Now, restaurants *also* calculate the cost of the food they have to throw away every day and subtract that from their bottom line. I don’t do that, but I do work my hardest to minimize what I throw away. In the end my monthly grocery bill has significantly shrunk :)
This looks so delicious and is definitely cost effective, but I wish the little price-markup didn’t assume that everyone already has olive oil and thyme available. If you run out of those things…prepare to spend triple that nice little six dollar total… Can’t wait to try it though! Especially with a little eggplant thrown in there too.
When I made this it wasn’t nearly as pretty as your pic. My husband looked at it strangely. We were both pleasantly surprised how tasty this dish was!! I make it now quite often!! Thank you!!!
When I made this it wasn’t nearly as pretty as your pic. My husband looked at it strangely. We were both pleasantly surprised how tasty this dish was!! I make it now quite often!! Thank you!!!
I made this for dinner tonight. It’s awesome! Thanks.
I just made this the other night and posted about it on my blog (http://stacyverb.typepad.com/stacyverb/2012/05/budget-bytes-vegetable-tian.html). Thank you for having so many great recipes! I’ve been telling all my friends about Budget Bytes.