Roasting has to be one of the tastiest and easiest ways to cook your vegetables. In today’s look at Spanish food and recipes we roast some aubergines, onions, garlic and peppers and create a wonderfully simple Spanish dish called “Escalivada”. The verb “Escalivar” means to cook in hot ashes. Traditionally the vegetables in an “Escalivada” are grilled and the dish is served with grilled meats, but I prefer to roast. I am a vegetable fanatic and I like nothing better than to douse my veggies in olive oil and just chuck them in the oven. It’s such a fast and unfussy way of cooking and you end up with a good half an hour to relax on the sofa as the room fills up with beautiful oniony, oily, garlicky aromas! This is a great comfort lunch meal or afternoon snack, ideal on thick rustic bread with a nice glass of red or white wine.
“Escalivada”
Ingredients for 6 people:
4 small aubergines
3 red peppers
A bunch of scallions
2 garlic cloves
6 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt to taste
Preparation:
Wash the aubergines, the peppers and the scallions, and put them on a baking tray with a drizzle of oil.
Put them in a preheated oven, at medium temperature, for 35-40 minutes.
When the vegetables are roasted, peal the peppers, remove the seeds and cut them in slices.
Cut the aubergines in thick slices and the scallions in half longways
Put the vegetables on a platter, season and sprinkle with chopped raw garlic and olive oil.
Serve warm or cold.
