Lifestyle

Recipe: Roast Tomato, Green Bean And Eggplant Salad

Mar 14 12:00am

This roasted tomato salad is delicious eaten at room temperature. Serve with grilled lamb chops or chicken breasts.

RECIPES & STYLING ANNA LAST
PHOTOGRAPHS BEN DEARNLEY

8 small Roma tomatoes, halved lengthways
caster sugar for sprinkling
¼ cup olive oil
6-8 baby eggplant, halved lengthways
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chardonnay vinegar*
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
¼ cup fresh mint leaves (larger leaves chopped or smaller leaves left whole)
200g green beans, trimmed
¼ cup fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to the lowest possible setting, usually around 100°C. Place tomatoes, cut-side up, on a baking tray, sprinkle with a little caster sugar and roast for 2–3 hours or until the edges of the tomatoes begin to crinkle. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a heavy-based frypan or grill pan over a medium–high heat and cook eggplant until golden (and a little charred, if using a grill pan) on both sides, then place in a large bowl. Mix together extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and garlic and toss through the eggplant, along with the mint. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper and set aside for the flavours to develop for up to 2 hours. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over a medium heat and cook green beans for 2–3 minutes or until just tender. Add roast tomatoes, beans and basil to eggplant mixture. Gently toss and serve. Serves 6.

*From specialty food stores.

TIP

As an alternative, you could omit the beans and tomatoes and cook zucchini strips in the same manner as the eggplant, then add the remaining ingredients for a marinated eggplant and zucchini salad.

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