Summer
Salads and Vegetables
Roast aubergine, tomatoes and fregola salad
This is a robust aubergine and tomato salad with flavours reminiscent of a caponata. Fregola are small pearls of semolina flour dough, which are a speciality of Sardinia.
If you cannot find fregola, you could also use giant couscous, orzo or other small pasta shapes.
Serves 4.
This recipe originally featured in the June 2019 edition of House & Garden magazine
Ingredients
- 450g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 4-6tbsp olive oil
- 1 large aubergine, cut into cubes
- 3 sticks celery, cut into batons
- 150g fregola
For the dressing
- 20g parsley, chopped
- 20g basil, chopped
- 10g mint, chopped
- ½tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- Pinch of chilli flakes
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/mark 4. Lay the tomatoes in one layer on a roasting tray, pour over 1tbsp of the oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast until they slightly collapse – about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully spoon onto a plate.
- Increase the temperature to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/mark 6. Using the same tray, lay the aubergine cubes in a single layer. Drizzle with 2-3tbsp oil and add plenty of salt. Roast for about 20 minutes, until soft and coloured, and then remove.
- Using the same tray, roast the celery with most of the rest of the oil and some salt at the same temperature, for about 15 minutes, until soft and starting to colour.
- Boil the fregola in well-salted water for 7 minutes. Toss in a bowl with a splash of olive oil. Mix together all the dressing ingredients.
- To serve, add the vegetables to the pasta and then the dressing.
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