Description
You may not want to use the oven in the middle of the summer heat but if you do, this is a beautiful way to highlight all of the wonderful produce you can find in your own garden or at your local farmer’s market. Don’t limit yourself to these vegetables, use whatever is fresh, whatever you like.
Ingredients
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red peppers, or to taste (optional)
1 medium Japanese eggplant, thinly sliced (1/4″ slices)
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (1/4″ slices)
4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced (1/4″ slices)
2 medium Italian sweet peppers, thinly sliced (1/4″ slices)
3 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Coat a 1½-quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread the marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish and sprinkle with crushed red peppers.
Prepare stacks of vegetables – eggplant, zucchini, tomato, and pepper. This will make arranging the vegetables in the casserole dish easier.
Starting on the outer edge of the dish, arrange the stacks on their sides, working concentrically toward the center. If you have any leftover vegetables, tuck them into any gaps.
Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, sprinkle with thyme leaves, and season with salt and black pepper, to taste.
Cover vegetables with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese while the vegetables are still hot.
Serve with more cheese.
Notes
This is a very flexible dish and easily scalable. Feel free to swap out or add vegetables of your choosing and make this dish your own. If you can’t find Italian sweet peppers, use a medium red, orange, or yellow bell pepper. Use a yellow summer squash instead of a zucchini. You just want to be sure to cut the vegetables in similar sizes so they cook evenly.
I use a good jarred marinara sauce but feel free to use your own homemade sauce if you have it on hand.
You can also change up the seasoning by using different herbs or even a spice mix like herbes de Provence or zata’ar.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Vegetables
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Calories: 162.05
- Sugar: 7.39 g.
- Sodium: 269.43 mg.
- Fat: 12.13 g.
- Saturated Fat: 2.16 g.
- Carbohydrates: 12.25 g.
- Fiber: 4.48 g.
- Protein: 3.7 g.
- Cholesterol: 3.26 g.
Keywords: vegetables, summer