These Mediterranean Lemon Roasted Vegetables are delicious hot or cold. They are a super versatile dish that can liven up any meal.
A taste of summer
When you think of recipes for warmer weather, you might not immediately think of roasted vegetables. But, roasting vegetables brings out the best in them, enhancing their flavour and making them soft and sumptuous.
I regularly make variations of this roasted vegetables recipe. It's the perfect meal prep recipe as the veggies can be eaten hot out of the oven or enjoyed cold as part of salads, sandwiches and other dishes.
It only takes 45 minutes to make, and most of that time is cooking time. The prep is minimal so you don't have to spend ages slaving over the oven for something delicious. It’s also super versatile and you can make it with whatever vegetables that you are growing in your garden or which are lurking in the back of your fridge!
As well as tasting good, it looks good too. I always try to use a range of different colours, red, yellow, purple, green and white. A range of colours also means a range of flavours and textures too.
Which vegetables are best?
This is a summer recipe and so I'd suggest using Mediterranean vegetables like red onion courgette, aubergine, peppers and tomatoes. Though I also love adding fennel, green beans and sometimes even potato. The choice is yours.
The selection of vegetables I've chosen will cook at roughly the same time so you don't have to worry about putting them in the oven at different times. If you add root vegetables you will want to cook them for 15 minutes before you add the more delicate vegetables.
I also add whole cloves of garlic and kalamata olives. A drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and the dish is almost ready to roast.
Can you roast lemon?
When I first posted this recipe back in 2012 I had lots of people ask me if I really roasted the lemon wedges alongside the vegetables. And the answer is yes!
Roasting lemons is a fantastic way of turning their flesh into, a juicy, sweet, sticky substance. Squeeze this over the vegetables before serving and they have a wonderful, sweet and zesty flavour. It's the perfect way of creating a dressing with no effort at all.
The recipe
Mediterranean Lemon Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1 red onion roughly chopped
- 1 courgette sliced
- 1 aubergine cut into half moons
- 1 red pepper roughly chopped
- 125 grams kalamata olives pitted
- 1 head garlic broken into cloves and peeled
- 250 grams cherry tomatoes
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 200 C / 400 F / gas mark 6
- Arrange the chopped vegetables, lemon and garlic on to a sheet pan.
- Drizzle over the olive oil and salt and pepper, toss the vegetables carefully to ensure they are all coated.
- Roast in the centre of the oven for 30-45 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Nutrition
Make ahead
These roasted vegetable will keep in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. Unfortunately they don't freeze very well (they just get more mushy once re-heated) so I can't recommend you do that.
Serve with...
These roasted vegetables would go well with a wide range of dishes from steak, to sea bass. Or why not try one of these recipes:
More sumptuous side dishes
Let me know how you eat yours!
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