Italian Vegetable Skillet with Roasted Garlic and Pine Nuts

Submitted by PalatablePastime

"This is something I made when I was hungry for garlic and vegetables and Italian, but wasn't really in the mood for pasta or meat. It makes a great side dish, but I just had it for a dinner, myself. My husband loved it too!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 50mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• For the Roasted Garlic

• 1 -2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 head garlic

• For the Vegetable Skillet

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 5 small zucchini, cut into coins
• 1 red bell pepper, cut in half lengthwise,then sliced
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered (may use button mushrooms)
• 1⁄2 cup sun-dried tomato packed in oil (chopped and drained before measuring)
• 1⁄2 cup pitted ripe black olives
• 1 -2 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
• 1 -2 tablespoon fresh basil, minced
• 1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• sea salt (to taste)
• fresh ground black pepper (to taste)
• 1⁄4 cup grated romano cheese or 1/4 cup asiago cheese
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil.
3. Cut off top 1/4 to 1/3 of garlic head (exposing cloves) and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Place garlic on baking pan, cut surface down, and roast for 1- 1 1/4 hours or until cloves are softened; allow garlic to cool slightly.
5. Heat butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan and squeeze out softened garlic cloves into pan (avoiding papery skins).
6. Mash a few of the cloves into the butter/oil, stirring, and add onions, cooking until onions are slightly softened.
7. Add zucchini, peppers and mushrooms to the pan and cook for 4 minutes.
8. Add sun-dried tomatoes, olives, minced herbs, and season to taste with salt and pepper (you may add some crushed red pepper now if you wish).
9. Continue to cook for 6-8 minutes or until vegetables are cooked the way you like them.
10. Before serving, sprinkle with romano or asiago cheese (you may use parmesan as well) and toasted pine nuts.

Reviews

[Mustang Sally 54269]

We absolutely loved this! Great flavours and lots of good vegys. I wanted 4 servings so I only added 1 medium zucchini & 4 oz mushrooms. I still kept the herbs the same amount & used essence spice in lieu of peppers flakes & the dry version of sun-dried tomatoes (finely chopped with scissors). I didn't add the black olives or pine nuts (not a fan of them). Although the roasted garlic can be abit messy to work with it is sooo worth it from the flavour you get. Thanks for sharing this tasty recipe.

 

[JeriBinNC]

We loved this! I served it over pasta instead of on its own, along with some wine & herb marinated chicken, and it was so flavorful. Even my son who normally doesn't care much for zucchini proclaimed it delicious. I cut back just a little on the butter, and I used dried herbs since I didn't have any fresh. I also used regular sun-dried tomatoes instead of the oil-packed ones, just to reduce the fat while keeping the flavor. We'll definitely make this one again. Thanks!

 

[Bruce Casey Lau]

I did not use mushrooms, but made the rest as described. Turned out exceptionally well, and used it as a side dish for scallopini. My husband said I could make it the next time his parents were in town! Thanks for the recipe. Casey

 

[sugarpea]

Outstanding vegetables! Dh and I were fighting over the last spoonsful. I generally keep roasted garlic handy so once the vegetables are chopped this goes together very quickly and easily. Only change I made was to eliminate the butter and use a bit of sun dried tomato pesto rather than chopped. Great concoction Sue. We adored it.