One of our favourite routines during the summer has always been a weekly visit to the farmers’ market. Of course these days things are a bit more challenging and many of us prefer to stay at home and have our vegetables delivered to us. Nonetheless, I’m sure that all of us have by now managed to source lovely seasonal produce, one way or another.
And summer is the season for aubergine, courgettes, peppers! So this week we’ve thought of an easy way to prepare all these colourful vegetables, and turn them into a very filling summer dish! As with most of our summer recipes, this is great served hot, but you can also enjoy it at room temperature, and yes, it’s excellent eaten cold too! For this recipe we’ve used various of our dried herbs. They are organic and wild, hand picked from the mountains of Epirus, in the north-west Greece. They add a wonderful complexity to our vegetables. And to make this dish quite filling, this week we’re cooking with our favourite bulgur wheat. Remember last year’s bulgur summer salad, or our take on the Greek salad with bulgur wheat? It’s an ingredient we absolutely love!
Serves 4 as a side, or 2 as a main
100g bulgur wheat, plus 1.5 cups of water
3 peppers, approx. 250g (we used colourful ones)
2 courgettes, approx. 250g
1 aubergine, approx. 250g
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried herbs (oregano, thyme, spearmint, basil, we used ½ tsp from each)
zest and juice from ½ lemon
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar with honey
100g feta cheese
Place the bulgur wheat and water in a small pot and cook over medium heat until tender and all the water is absorbed, around 10-15min. Set aside.
Cut the courgettes and aubergine in small bite-sized pieces. Make sure they are all equal, so that they cook evenly. Cut the peppers in thin strips.
Toss the vegetables together with the olive oil and all the herbs and place in a baking tray, all in one layer.
Bake at 180C until tender and slightly charred, around 20’.
In a bowl toss together the bulgur wheat, roasted vegetables, lemon juice and zest, vinegar.
Serve with the crumbled feta cheese and more olive oil and vinegar to taste.
