This colourful and veggie-packed traybake takes only 5 minutes to prep and then the oven does all the work. It makes a balanced bowl of food for all the family and uses a can of lentils which is one of my favourite economical store-cupboard staples. The recipe is easily doubled if you want to do it as a batch cook (on two trays). Serve it on its own, with couscous or pasta, or in a jacket potato. For babies, you can blend the sauce or mash with a potato masher to get a texture that suits your little one’s stage of weaning.
Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cooking time: 35 mins
Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 green pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 courgette
- 1 aubergine
- 1 red onion
- 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 1 can lentils, drained
- a little chopped mozzarella
- a handful fresh basil
- Couscous, pasta, rice or potato to serve – as you like!
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180 fan/gas mark 6 and dice the peppers, courgette, aubergine and red onion. Add to the tray with the whole tomatoes and crush over the garlic. Sprinkle over the oregano, drizzle with olive oil and stir.
- Roast in the top of the oven for 30 minutes.
- Add the drained lentils to the tray, dot with a little chopped mozzarella and return to the oven for a few more minutes until the cheese is just melted. Tear over a handful of fresh basil and serve.
I love versatile dinners, and this is perfect for that. You can blend the ingredients together and make a soup (minus the mozzarella) or offer it as it is if you’re after a light, veggie heavy meal. Additionally you can serve it over steamy potatoes or in a jacket or use it as pasta sauce. The idea for this is that it’s a SUPER quick prep dinner option for when you need something to shove in the oven for when the kids get home. You can easily freeze this for another day, blended or not too!
If you’re after more quick meal options for mid week, check out my book How to Feed Your Family as well as these Easy Fishcakes and my Easy Cheesy Potato Pie and Speedy eggy veg – I have lots more on my website too, so make sure you check out the Recipe section for more.
This recipe has been created by Emily from Nutritious Family Food – do check out more of her recipes on her Instagram.