This may seem like JUST a Roasted vegetable salad to you, but to me it screams out a whole lot more. One might say this resembles a Panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad with tomatoes, olive oil and herbs served in summer, maybe it is?
Throughout summer I always roast off a medley of these vegetables as the produce is pretty much all in season now and to me its just like summer in a bowl. I love the colours it gives off and the flavours are just immense. Another great thing regarding this little dish is that if you are a Kitchen gardener like myself, at some point, such as now in summer some of your homegrown vegetables will be used in it if not all. Its great for a glut of tomatoes, courgettes or peppers.
Roasting mediterranean vegetables can be the basis of creating so many other dishes from it. Here is just a short list of examples for you:
- Use it as a topping for Pizza or on bruschetta’s
- Turn into a gratin by adding cheese on top and placing back in the oven
- Make quiche or tarts
- Add chickpeas and some Moroccan spice or Indian spices to make a curry
- Also adding feta cheese and olives gives a greek feel
- Mix through Rice
- By adding it to Pasta, popping on a rich cheese sauce with some dijon mustard in will make an amazing Pasta Bake.
- I could go on…
Or simply of course this dish can be the great accompaniment for barbecued/grilled meats or fish.
However going back to the dish alone, Ive added fennel to mine and lots of herbs which give it that extra flavour. I personally love to sit outside with a big bowl of this and of course a large glass of wine to wash it down. As I said…Summer in a bowl.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp Rapeseed oil or Olive
- 2 Cloves of Garlic roughly chopped
- 1 small courgette trimmed
- 1 red pepper and yellow pepper
- 1 Baby fennel trimmed , cut through the middle into 4-5 pieces
- 2 handfuls of cherry/baby plum/piccolo tomatoes halved, I used British Vittoria ones
- 1/2 Aubergine trimmed
- 1-2 red onions
- Handful of fresh herbs finely chopped: Oregano, Lemon thyme or normal thyme, Basil, parsley
( If you don’t have Lemon thyme, use normal and then grate about a 1/4 of lemon zest)
– Sea salt and cracked black pepper to season
Croutons for the Salad
- 2 Slices of Bread ( couple of days old) chopped into squares
- 1-2 tbsp of rapeseed oil
- 1 clove of garlic bashed
- Salt and cracked black pepper to season
- Sprig of Rosemary finely chopped
Method:
- Preheat oven to 200c
- Chop all vegetables into similar size chunks, 2-3 cm
- Place all vegetables ( not tomatoes )into an oven proof dish add the oil, garlic and season. mix through with your hands
- Pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
- Drizzle oil over croutons, season and coat with the rosemary. Dry fry in a pan until golden brown.
- After 15 minutes add your most of your fresh herbs and tomatoes and pop back in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until cooked through.
* Toss the croutons through, add the rest of your herbs, a good drizzle of oil and serve in a large bowl.
