The end of summer, just before the year turns to Autumn is one of my favourite times of year. The air has cooled down somewhat, meaning you can think about creating more than just a salad for dinner, and but all your favourite summer veggies are ripe.
One of the easiest ways to turn a glut of veggies into to an easy meal is the humble traybake. I rely on them almost year round (apart from the hottest days of summer), but this particular season is just made for them.
All you have to do is roughly chop your choice of veggies, add them into a large roasting dish, add oil & spices and bake until golden & crunchy. The opportunities to change this simple formula up are endless & it makes for pretty much hands free cooking, which obviously means you can get on with other things that really should have been done over summer, but you were too busy out having fun.
This particular tray-bake features some radishes that came in the veggie box that I get delivered, a tin of chickpeas, some potatoes, a whole head of smoked garlic & a good amount of cherry tomatoes picked fresh from our garden (which kind of disappeared in the baking, but lent their flavour to the whole shebang) The brilliant thing about a tray-bake is that it sort of caramelises the veggies, which creates an extra intensity of flavour that melds together all the flavours and creates a dish that is so much more than the sum of it’s parts.
I like to serve a traybake with some yummy chutney or relishes (we ate ours with my spicy Scotch Bonnet Chilli Jam) or a good vegan mayo. You can also serve it alongside a bigger feast, add salads, breads & soup or stews for a big sharing family and friends lunch or supper.
A super simple pop in the oven dinner that means you can enjoy all the seasonal veggies without a lot of fuss.
- 500 g small or new potatoes
- 1 bunch radishes (around 250g)- topped and tailed
- 1 head garlic I used smoked garlic, but use whatever you have
- 20 or so cherry tomatoes
- 1 tin chickpeas drained (keep the
- 2 teaspoons Zata'ar OR 1 teaspoon thyme & 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon mild chilli powder OR 1 small fresh chilli
- 2-3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 large pinch salt
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Chop the potatoes into chunks about 2- 3 cm squares (or leave whole if they are tiny!)
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Separate all the cloves of garlic from but keep them in their little papery wrappers.
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Toss everything on the ingredients list into a large roasting tray. (You can add other herbs or more chilli as you wish)
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Roast on a Medium Heat (Gas Mark 6- 200C) for around 20mins. Then give it a stir around & check how it is cooking.
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Roast for another 10 mins or so (depending on your oven you might want to turn it up a bit to make sure you get those nice crunchy caramelised bits)
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Sprinkle some herbs such as chopped parsley over if you like!
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Serve warm, with some sauces and maybe a salad. Also brilliant as a leftover for lunch (make extra!)
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