• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Trending: Healthy New Year
  • About
  • Shop
  • Work with Me
  • Contact

Cooking for Keeps

  • All Recipes
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Bread
    • Breakfast
    • Casseroles
    • Cocktails
    • Dips
    • Main Course
    • Pasta
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches
    • Sauces
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups & Stews
    • Stir Fries
    • Sweets
  • Protein
    • Beef/Lamb
    • Chicken/Poultry
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Vegetarian
  • Method
    • Casseroles
    • Slow-Cooker
    • Grilling
    • Minimal Ingredients
    • Quick
    • Air Fryer/Instant Pot
    • Oven
    • No cook
    • Stovetop
    • Kid Friendly
    • Dinner Party Worthy
    • One Pan
Home easy
Easy easy

Roasted Summer Veggies with Lemon Zest and Fennel

Jump to Recipe
By: Nicole 1 Comment
Posted: 08/17/17 Updated: 08/18/17

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

 

Roasted Summer Veggies with Lemon Zest and Fennel – the perfect EASY side to any summer meal. Bonus? They also double up as a modern take on crudités!

Roasted Summer Veggies with Lemon Zest and Fennel

I was never the kid who wouldn’t eat her veggies. I’ve always loved broccoli, spinach, corn, mushrooms, zucchini, and pretty much every other vegetable under the sun. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they were just always a part of mealtime growing up. Every night at 5:30, dinner was on the table and we had an entrée, a vegetable, a starch and most of the time, a salad. From what I can remember, it was never forced upon me –or maybe it never had to be.

I’m trying to coerce Teddy in to having the same love of veggies as I do, and it was going swimmingly until about two months ago when he decided he would only eat cottage cheese, yogurt, pasta and fruit. After many attempts at more kid-friendly versions of vegetables like crispy zucchini, cheesy tater tots and spinach quesadillas to get him eating his veggies again, I’ve come to terms with the fact that for the time being, pouches and smoothies will just have to do the trick.

Since I’ve done away with all the kid-ified vegetables, I thought it was high time to head to the farmer’s market, pick up some veggies I know Teddy would never eat in a million years and treat myself to some grown-up vegetables.

Farmer's market carrots, baby eggplant and fingerling potatoes

The zucchini flowers, soy beans and locally-harvested oyster mushrooms caught my eye at first, but when it came down to it, all I really wanted were the teeny tiny baby classics – carrots, eggplant and fingerling potatoes.

There’s something about roasting fresh vegetables that takes them from ordinary to extraordinary, but what I love most about it, is it’s EASY. So easy.

I don’t usually do too much in terms of seasoning when it comes to roasting vegetables aside from a little olive oil, salt and pepper, but here, I wanted to give them a little bit of extra pizzaz. In addition to my go-to standards, before roasted I tossed the veggies with ground coriander and a little bit of fennel seed.

After roasting, I tossed the hot vegetables with plenty of lemon zest, and then served them with a super easy lemon and coriander Greek yogurt sauce.

Roasted baby carrot with lemon zest, fennel seed and coriander

A few notes on roasting. Because all vegetables have different cooking times, it’s best to roast them on separate sheet pans. Since the carrots and fingerling potatoes take similar amounts of time, I roasted them all on one pan, and then the baby eggplants on another. I also like to shake the pan about halfway through the cooking process, just to make sure they cook evenly on all sides.

When it comes to roasting eggplant, there’s this mindset that you must salt it prior to cooking to bring out the innate moisture inside them. I personally don’t feel it’s necessary, but did it anyways on about half of them to see if there was any difference – there wasn’t. If you’re a rule follower, just salt them 10-15 minutes before you toss them with the olive oil and seasoning, if you’re not, throw caution to the wind and skip it.

Now, this is a hard and fast rule when it comes to roasting ALL vegetables, and really, roasted anything in general. Because you want the vegetables to ROAST and not steam, it’s really important you don’t overcrowd the pan – especially when it comes to the eggplant. If all of the veggies are on top of each other, they won’t get that irresistible brown exterior.

Also, instead of just shaking them pan with the eggplant, I actually like to take the eggplant out, and flip each one over to make sure they cook evenly on both sides.

Of course, these are wonderful served straight out of the oven, but I also like them just as much at room temperature. And while they’re the perfect side dish to any meal, they’re also the perfect modern twist on a classic crudité platter.

Roasted baby carrots, fingerling potatoes and baby eggplant with garlicky lemon Greek yogurt.

For more easy veggie recipes, check out these posts:

Sautéed Green Beans with Brown Butter Pesto
Roasted Carrots with Pistachio Orange Butter
Grilled Artichokes with Rosemary Lemon Vinaigrette and Garlic Breadcrumbs

Roasted Summer Veggies with Lemon Zest,Fennel and Garlicky Yogurt Sauce

Roasted Summer Veggies with Lemon Zest and Fennel

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
0 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Print Rate Email
Roasted Summer Veggies with Lemon Zest and Fennel: A nice way to use up all your summer produce that isn't the norm. Carrots and eggplant are tossed with lemon zest, fennel seeds, and olive oil, roasted and then served with an easy lemon yogurt.
Prevent your screen from going dark
6 people for a side

Ingredients

  • 3/4 lb baby eggplant, sliced in half lengthwise
  • 1 tsp salt, divided (plus more to taste)
  • 4 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 lb. baby farmer's market carrots
  • 1/2 lb. fingerling potatoes
  • 3/4 tsp. fennel seed
  • 1 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp. lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
  • 1 1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Equipment

  • sheet pan

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line halved eggplant up on a rimmed baking sheet, skin-side down. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let sit for 15 minutes. 
  • Add eggplant, carrots and potatoes to a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, remaining salt, fennel and 3/4 teaspoon of ground coriander. 
  • Spread carrots and fingerling potatoes evenly on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Place eggplant on another baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Pull the carrots and potatoes out, and shake the pan to make sure the veggies cook evenly. Flip each of the eggplant over. Place back in the oven and roast until carrots are cooked, but still have a bite to them and potatoes are cooked, anther 10-15 minutes. Cook the eggplant until it's super soft and golden brown, another 5-10 minutes. 
  • While the veggies finish cooking, whisk Greek yogurt, lemon juice, garlic and remaining coriander together. Add a teaspoon or two of water to get it to a consistency where it can be drizzled. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
  • When the veggies are done cooking, add them all to the same pan and toss with lemon zest. Transfer to a serving platter and drizzle with yogurt. If you are serving as a crudites, place the sauce in a small dish and arrange the veggies around it. 

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 96kcal (5%), Carbohydrates: 15g (5%), Protein: 3g (6%), Fat: 4g (6%), Saturated Fat: 1g (6%), Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 421mg (18%), Potassium: 443mg (13%), Fiber: 4g (17%), Sugar: 4g (4%), Vitamin A: 6328IU (127%), Vitamin C: 13mg (16%), Calcium: 44mg (4%), Iron: 1mg (6%)
© Author: Nicole

Did You Make This?

Be sure to upload a photo & tag me at @CookingForKeeps. I love seeing what you made!

Tag Me On Instagram Rate Recipe

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved over time into an equal love of showing you an elevated meal can be easy, approachable and most importantly, tasty. Dive in and find something perfect for you and your family!

Read more...

You May Also Like...

  • Pan Roasted Chicken with Lemon Caper Berries and Roasted Garlic
  • Roast Spring Veggies with Creamy Polenta and Lemon Brown Butter 3
    Roasted Spring Veggies and Chicken with Creamy Polenta and Lemon Brown Butter
  • Crispy Salmon with Roasted Beets and Garlicky Lemon Yogurt Sauce 5
    Crispy Salmon with Roasted Beets and Garlicky Lemon Yogurt Sauce

Never miss a recipe!

Loading

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Submit your question or comment below.

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Michele Shoemaker says

    Posted on 8/17/17 at 7:28 pm

    Beautiful pictures!!! And it looks yummmy!!!!

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

hey

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved into an equal love of showing you easy elevated meals can be approachable and most importantly, tasty.

Read More

Browse by Difficulty

Easy easy Medium medium Advanced hard

Reader Favorites

Best Chicken Enchilada

Best Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Italian Stromboli

Italian Stromboli (5 Ingredients!)

French Onion Chicken Skillet

French Onion Chicken Skillet

One Pot Mexican Past

One Pot Turkey Mexican Pasta

Subscribe to latest recipe updates

Loading

Trending

Coconut Curry Meatballs

Coconut Curry Meatballs

Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Spinach and Ground Beef Stuffed Shells

Stuffed Pasta Shells with Ground Beef and Spinach

meet nicole

Cooking for Keeps Cooking for Keeps
I'm Nicole. A born and bred food lover, cook since age seven and girl behind all the recipes and photographs you see here. Welcome!

subscribe

bloglovin feedly

popular posts

[tptn_list]

browse recipe by difficulty

easy

medium

hard

Instagram

[instagram-feed]
follow Nicole

Healthy Eats

Baked-Sweet-Potato-Chips-with-Blue-Cheese-Sauce-and-Bacon-5

Easy

Pan-Roasted Salmon with Garlicky Kale and Citrus Vinaigrette
Baked-Sweet-Potato-Chips-with-Blue-Cheese-Sauce-and-Bacon-5

Medium

Baked Sweet Potato Chips with Blue Cheese Sauce, Bacon and Green Onion
Spicy Pumpkin and Butternut Ramen PS2

Medium

Spicy Thai-Style Pumpkin and Butternut Ramen

Never miss a recipe!

Loading

By Course

Appetizers

Breakfast

Quick and Easy

Main Course

Soups

Salads

Side Dishes

Sweets

Explore

About Nicole

Shop Favorites

Press

Work With Me

Privacy Policy

Accessibility

Contact

© 2023 Cooking for Keeps
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
Back to Top