As always, perfect writing food is quick (either to make or to double up another day's cooking) so it doesn't steal your writing time, low-carb so your writing time isn't sabotaged by sleepiness, and as much a treat as writing itself.
Roast Mediterranean veg is quick to prepare, easy to make lots of, and freezes well. You can play around with the exact ingredients and quantities, add extra protein for omnivore / veggie / vegan eating, and get creative with herbs and spices to change it about.
It's also ideal for whatever extreme of summer we end up getting. In a heatwave, cooked food is less physical work for your body to digest than raw salads, so roast vegetables that are delicious at room temperature is perfect. As soon as a heatwave is forecast, I prep trays of roast veg for the week ahead. In veils of rain, you can serve it hot or reheat it, and enjoy all the flavours of summer while admiring how very green everything is, through the rain-streaked window. Possibly with a summer-themed blanket wrapped round you. I'll keep any further witter to after the recipe!
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Roast Mediterranean Veg
Serving and times
- Active time: 15 mins
- Oven time: 40 mins
- Serves: 4–6 (easily doubled or more)
Ingredients
- Approx 1.5 kg of mixed Mediterranean veg, eg
1 aubergine
2 courgettes
3 peppers, any colour or a combination
300g mushrooms
2 small red onions - ½ head of garlic (about 6–9 cloves)
- 4–6 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ – 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
- Optional: 4–6 whole mild chillies
Optional extras: protein
We often serve it as is, or with grilled chicken or sausages. You can also add more protein to the dish, partway through cooking or at the end:
- Chorizo: 5mm slices, 20 mins before end
- Halloumi: ¾ cm slices, 10 mins before end
- Walnuts: 5 mins before end
- Cheese (goats, camembert, brie) when serving
Optional extras: additional flavours
You can add whatever herbs, citrus, and spices you fancy, to vary it. Eg rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, basil, tarragon, chives, parsley, lemon, lime, chilli, cumin – though perhaps not all at once! My favourite combos are: mint and goats cheese; rosemary and lemon; chilli flakes and lime; cumin, leaf coriander, and lemon.
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
- Chop the aubergine, courgettes, and peppers into chunks about an inch / 2.5cm big – err bigger than smaller.
- Rub the mushrooms clean of dirt and trim the stalk ends if necessary.
- Halve the onions, peel them, and trim the ends leaving as much on as possible. Chop each half into quarters or thirds lengthways.
- Break the garlic into cloves, the skin still on.
- Get an oven tray large enough to hold all the vegetables in a single layer. (The oven’s own tray does well, lined with foil if necc.)
- Toss all the vegetables in the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Put the tray of veg in the oven for 40 mins.
Optional Extras
- Before roasting: Toss any lemon zest, chilli, and whole spices (eg cumin) with the veg. Tuck any woody herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage) under the veg, stalks and all.
- While roasting: Set an extra timer for when to add your chorizo, halloumi, or walnuts.
- After roasting: Add any chopped soft herbs (eg mint, basil, tarragon, chives, parsley, coriander), any citrus juice (eg lemon, lime), and any cheese.
Notes
Avoid dishes with high sides for roasting: A metal tray with low-ish sides is ideal. Higher sides keep more of the moisture trapped, even when the dish is open at the top, making the veg boil in its juice more than roast.
Fridging, freezing, re-eating
- Keep for up to 5 days in the fridge.
- To freeze, portion into tupperwares (don’t squish it down) & label with masking tape & a sharpie. Defrost overnight in the fridge for maximum food safety.
- For hot days, take it out the fridge an hour before to eat at room temperature, with a dash of extra olive oil and balsamic or citrus juice.
- For colder days, reheat for 10–15 mins in a 160°C oven. Add a splash of lemon or lime to brighten it.
Further witter on roast veg, chillies, and variable summers
In 2022, with the Summer of Writing workshops finally set to happen in person again, a massive heatwave was forecast. I leapt into action. For me and my partner, I roasted heroic quantities of Mediterranean veg, throwing in some of my freshly homegrown jalapeños: the perfect chilli-heat to add some zing but still eat whole without blinking. For everyone coming to the workshops, I laid in extra ice, double quantities of iced teas, two electric fans, an extra large garden umbrella for lunchtime, and a water-mister and hand fan to pass round. The front room, where the workshops are held, is north-facing and always the coolest, but even so I pinned thick white cloth on the conservatory side and the stair windows to block any heat from the south side of the house. The roast veg was delicious, and everyone at the workshops was kept as cool as humanly possible.
After two weeks of heatwave, I made another batch of roast veg, with the new jalapeños that had grown. I ate
one, and... I didn't even get the laughing chilli high. Just straight
to crying with pain, half a pint of milk, brushing my teeth (while crying),
more milk (still crying), and then collapsed into a pain-induced nap on my partner's lap. I couldn't even finish my dinner. Heatwaves, it turns out, make chillies hotter as well as people.
In 2023, I was even better prepared to keep everyone cool. Everything as before plus a second even bigger umbrella for the garden, more bottles for iced tea, cream black-out blinds installed on the south side instead of cloth... and we had the other kind of summer. Cue piles of towels to dry people who arrived soaking, coathangers for sopping coats to dry off, hot chocolate alongside the teas and coffees. All the veg I'd bought to roast made cosy warming dinners for wet evenings and welcome hot lunches for writing days. And the chillies, even the superhots, offered the humblest zing of heat, right at the bottom of their respective Scoville scales.
So, whatever kind of summer we get this year, beware of heatwave chillies, happy eating and happy writing!
