Notes from my kitchen 19 - Mediterranean Style Vegetable Bake

The smell of this dish cooking in your kitchen will whet your appetite. I made this yesterday for a long overdue lunch with friends, and served it with slow cooked lamb. Cooking the wine, tomatoes and herbs creates flavours that set this dish apart from other vegetable bakes.

4T olive oil
500g mixed vegetables such as courgettes, butternut and carrots
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
5ml nutmeg
2 red onions chopped
600g tomatoes, skinned and diced
4T dry white wine
30g fresh parsley
320g feta cheese crumbled
20g lemon thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Heat 30ml oil and fry the vegetables and a clove of garlic. Cook for 15 minutes. Once they have softened, season well, add the nutmeg and stir well. Place in a  buttered oven proof baking dish. (one that can be used to serve the dish in, saves on washing up!)

Heat the remaining oil, fry the onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine and parsley. Cook until the liquid has evaporated (about 10 minutes).

Sprinkle half the feta over the vegetables and add the tomato mixture on top. Sprinkle with the remaining feta and thyme. Bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with thyme sprigs.

Tips: use tinned tomatoes if you are short of time. You can substitute plain thyme for the lemon thyme.