COOKING & DIET , RECIPES

One pan of roast vegetables for the first cool evening

by Lafem 25 August 2026 Generated with AI

Late August, an open window, and the evening turns. No soup, no extra pot: a shallow dish, rounds of zucchini, aubergine and tomato, a spoon of tomato sauce underneath. After a good half hour you can see what you cooked — dark aubergine skin, soft zucchini flesh, tomatoes already shrinking at the edges.
Photo: Marjan Sadeghi / Unsplash

Ingredients (serves 2, with leftovers for the office)
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  • 2 zucchini
  • 1 aubergine
  • 4 ripe tomatoes
  • 4 tbsp passata
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp dried thyme or oregano
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Method
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  1. Heat the oven to 200 °C (conventional). Lightly oil a round, shallow dish — about 26 cm.
  2. Slice the zucchini, aubergine and tomatoes just under half a centimetre thick. Too thin and they collapse; too thick and the centres stay hard.
  3. Stir the passata with a tablespoon of oil, salt and pepper and spread it over the base of the dish. Not more: the sauce should hold the slices, not drown them.
  4. Overlap the vegetable rounds in a circle, alternating zucchini, aubergine and tomato, until the dish is full. Drizzle with the remaining oil; scatter herbs, sesame and a little more salt.
  5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the aubergine skin looks dark and glossy and the tomatoes are soft. If the edges colour too fast, cover the dish with a piece of baking paper.

Leftovers for the office
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Cold or lukewarm, the vegetables often taste better the next day. Into a box, a piece of bread beside them — done. In the dish they keep two days in the fridge.

Enjoy.