Here in Europe, these vegetables are in season, so they’re nice and cheap too. Hugh Furry-Whittingtoff was going on about them in The Guardian a couple of weekends ago. I don’t know about Canada. (I suppose nothing will be in season soon.) Anyway, here’s a recipe.
Ingredients (serves 1 or 2 or 1 person twice)
- 1 onion
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 courgette (optional)
- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (optional)
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt, pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to quite hot (about 200 centigrade = 400 Fahrenheit = 473.15 Kelvin).
Cut the onion into quarters. Remove the skin, root, stalk and any tough outer layers. Cut the quarters into halves and break up the layers. Put in an ovenproof dish. Wash the peppers and cut them into quarters. Remove the stalk, seeds and white pithy bits. Tap the peppers on the sink to get rid of any lingering seeds. Cut the quarters into slices about 3 cm wide. Add to the dish with the onions. Slice the courgette into half-centimetre rounds and add to the dish too.
Sprinkle generously with salt, splosh with olive oil, stir to coat everything with the oil and put in the oven for half an hour or so, till they look like this.
Once nice and roasted-looking chuck in the tomatoes whole (and washed) and cook for another 15 mins or so. If not using tomatoes just take out – and add pepper and balsamic vinegar to taste. If using the tomatoes, wait until they’re looking singed and squishy before add the flavouring.
Why do I start with this recipe? Because, you have just made a particularly acceptable pasta sauce (or accompaniment to almost anything) without using a tin of tomatoes. Huzzaaah!
Even more magical, you can now make the whole thing disappear. Huzzaaah again!
Tip of the week
Vegetables are cheaper if you buy them season. And most things are nicer if you roast them in olive oil. But maybe not Aristotle. Or chocolate.
