Vegetable medley lathera

In Greek cuisine, there is a whole category of vegetable dishes known as "lathera" (la-there-AH), from the word "lathi", which means oil. These dishes are often simple, slow-cooked and as the name would suggest are very heavy-handed with olive oil! These dishes happen to be extremely nutritious. Not only do the vegetables offer a host of vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants, but cooking them with extra virgin olive oil only increases the availability of some of those nutrients and adds even more anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties to the whole dish.

This recipe has been a recent household favourite. It can be the main meal, or a side dish added to a protein of choice. I would highly suggest making extra of this recipe because it only develops its flavour over time, and keeps well in the fridge. Make sure to check out the notes at the end of the recipe for some suggestions.

Serves: 2-4 | Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

3 medium carrots
1 zucchini
1 small brown onion
10-12 baby potatoes
20 cherry tomatoes 
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for frying)
Pinch of salt 

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 220C/420F

• Dice the onion and fry in 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, until they begin to soften (approx 3-4 mins)

• Half the tomatoes and potatoes

• Cut the carrot and zucchini half lengthways and then into even pieces (apron 1 inch)

• Combine all the vegetables into an oven-proof baking dish, coat with the oil and a generous pinch of salt

• Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes

• Uncover and cook for a further 15 minutes
  

Notes:

• You can use whatever vegetables you have lying around, the key is to always have sweet tomatoes to create almost a “glaze’ with the onion.

• Some other vegetables that I think would work well are eggplant, capsicum and leek.

• I like to serve this with feta cheese and you can add a fried egg to make it more complete, or use it as a side dish.