Ruth Pretty's Roasted Vegetable Salad

November 19, 2002

Last week I went along to an author's lunch at the local Hotel Inter-Continental. It was part of the Write Stuff series sponsored by Wellington's Dominion Post newspaper and the featured author was one of their food columnists, catering icon Ruth Pretty.

Ruth runs her catering business and cooking school from a property in Te Horo, about an hour north of Wellington. It is surrounded by market gardens, orchards and herb gardens providing her with a bountiful supply of the fresh produce that characterises her menus.

I've attended numerous functions, from cocktail parties to luncheons to sit-down dinners, catered by her business and the food is always delightful and frequently innovative.

Last month Ruth's second cookbook, The Ruth Pretty Cookbook (Penguin, ISBN 0143018426) was published and it is already in a second printing. I think most of the 150 people at the lunch bought a copy, judging from the long queue to get their books autographed.

Fittingly the menu for the occasion comprised dishes from the new cookbook. For starters there was a selection of breads with a minted pea dip and a carrot and cumin dip.

The main course featured parmesan chicken with asparagus, semi dried tomatoes and balsamic butter sauce served with Christmas potato stacks - three small potatoes speared together with a twig of rosemary, the leaves protruding just like a little Christmas tree. Dessert was an exquisitely flavoured lemon verbena panna cotta with a layer of passionfruit jelly on top, and long stem strawberries.

Needless to say we didn't need a large dinner that night and so I cooked some fresh fish, sprinkled with zatar (a mix of sesame seeds, dried thyme and a tart Middle Eastern spice called sumac) and pan fried, and accompanied it with a recipe from Ruth's book, Roasted Vegetable Salad. This is my kind of recipe. Little preparation is required apart from slicing the vegetables. No need to hover over a pan as the dish is cooked in the oven then set aside till required.

Ruth Pretty's Roasted Vegetable Salad

About 400g red peppers
About 400g yellow peppers
Olive oil for lightly coating vegetables
About 400g eggplant sliced into 5mm rounds
100g (20) garlic cloves (peeled)
about 400g red onion, peeled and sliced into 5mm rings
2 1/4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Italian parsley or basil leaves for garnishing

Preheat oven to 250C.

Seed peppers and cut into 1cm strips.

Spray all vegetables with olive oil and place separately on low-sided bun trays (1).

Bake peppers for 15 minutes or until soft. Set aside to cool.

Bake garlic for 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Set aside to cool.

Bake red onion and eggplant for 15-20 minutes or until onion is slightly caramelised and eggplant is soft. Set aside to cool.

Remove vegetables from trays and place into a large bowl. Add balsamic vinegar and season to taste (2).

Place salad on a serving platter and garnish with Italian parsley or basil leaves.

Recipe © Ruth Pretty.