Ruth Pretty's Roasted Vegetable Salad

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.

This recipe is from Ruth's second cookbook, The Ruth Pretty Cookbook (Penguin, ISBN 0143018426). 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.

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.