Vegetable Tian

 This is such a beautiful dish.  Perfect for late summer or fall.  And you won’t believe how deliciously the vegetables roast up together.  I used Russet Potatoes, Tomatoes, & Zucchini but you could also use Red Potatoes, Yellow Squash, Eggplant, what ever you’d like!
This recipe is slightly adapted from Ina Garten's version.

 Ingredients:

2 large Yellow Onions, cut in half and sliced

2-3 Garlic cloves, minced

4-5 medium round Potatoes, unpeeled

2 pound Zucchini

6-7 medium Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

1 tablespoon fresh Thyme leaves, plus extra sprig

 ¼ cup Havarti Cheese, grated

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

 While the onions are cooking, brush a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with olive oil.

 Slice all the veggies into 1/4-inch thick slices.

 A mandolin makes this quick & easy to get the uniform slices.  If you don't have one, don't worry a knife works just fine too! 

 

 Place the sauteed onions & garlic evenly in the bottom of the oiled dish.

 Then layer the veggies alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly & making only 1 layer.You can stand them up like I've done here.  Or you could use an oval dish & lay the veggies flat, fanning them around the oval.

 Sprinkle with salt & pepper, thyme & thyme spring.  Drizzle about a tbsp of olive oil on top, then tightly cover with aluminum foil.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.  I have found that standing them up like this, I need to cook them longer, an hour or so.  If they are fanned laying flat, 45 minutes will probably be enough.  Just make sure you check the potatoes to make sure they are tender & cooked. 

Uncover the dish, remove the thyme sprigs, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for another 30 minutes until browned. Serve warm.

This dish is great for entertaining, you can do all the work ahead of time & it makes a lot.  This will easily feed 8 people, as a side.  Plus it looks so impressive.  You can also scale the recipe down & make it in a smaller casserole dish.