Baked zucchini with feta cheese

Across the Eastern Mediterranean there were once communal ovens where women would send their dishes to be baked. From Palestine to Greece these dishes shared many similarities from their seasonality to their simplicity, because whether cooking meat or vegetables, baking — especially using fire — bestows unique flavor.

When I was in Palestine I would pass by one of these former communal ovens near my house, now a signless bakery that makes spectacular manouche, and watch the crackling fires transform dough, salty cheese and wild greens into a charred entanglement of taste.

On the weekends, I would take a large metal tray of layered vegetables slathered in olive oil from the mountains to cook in these same fires. Eggplants and tomatoes grown in the sun would be transformed into trays of flavor. This was often an accompaniment to lemony meatballs baked with broad beans and sumac.

Putting something in the oven doesn’t have to be a project. This recipe is one of my favorite ways to eat spring zucchini, but you can also use beans or eggplant.  What makes it so good is the fusion of the vegetables, good olive oil and sea salt which comes together to caramelize with the tomatoes, which for this to work must be really ripe and not stored in the fridge beforehand, making it jammy and delicious.  Sometimes I’ll serve it as a side, but often I’ll just eat it as is out of the baking dish.

Cooking time: 50 minutes
Serves 2

6 zucchini, sliced into half cm disks
3 very ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3 large tbsp olive oil
A large tsp of sea salt
Feta cheese to serve

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius. Cut off the ends of the zucchini and slice into half-centimeter disks. This is my version of not too thick, not too thin. Slice the tomatoes and onions also as thin as you can. Then put all the vegetables in a glass baking dish where you can layer them snugly and add the olive oil and salt and mix with your hands till all the vegetables are well coated. Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes until golden on the top. Check on it periodically, shaking the baking dish a few times so everything gets coated and all the juices evaporate.

Once it’s ready let it sit and cool for at least 15 minutes as it's better eaten at room temperature. Once it’s cool top with chunks of crumbled feta.  

Secrets to make this work

Produce: You want to buy small, tight zucchinis with no marks or bruises. If they are spongy they won’t be good, so make sure they are pale green and firm. Avoid buying pre-cut vegetables as these are often not fresh and lack flavor.