Roasted Summer Vegetables with Ricotta, Dried Figs and Pine Nuts

 Summer is the time where vegetables shine! I love the variety of fresh produce on offer- aubergines, courgettes, peppers, tomatoes! I think I've eaten tomatoes nearly every day for the past few weeks...

 But anyway... moving on... other than eating these wonderful ingredients raw and fresh, for me, the best way to prepare them is to roast them or grill them on a high heat, lavishly drizzled with olive oil and generously seasoned. Recently, Bon Appétit Magazine wrote about an amazing way to serve courgettes- roasted and dressed in a vinaigrette, served on a bed of lemony ricotta with toasted hazelnuts (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/marinated-zucchini-recipe)- Heaven!

Before ...

... after!

 A recent trip to Corfu and the food I ate there gave me an idea to put a personal twist on this already delicious recipe- adding roasted peppers and replacing the hazelnuts with pine nuts whilst adding some chopped dried figs. The other half and I loved it so here's my version of it. I like to serve this on one big plate so that everyone can grab a fork and just dive in (with a nice glass of chilled white wine of course).

Roasted Summer Vegetables with Ricotta, Dried Figs and Pine Nuts

(serves two people)

Ingredients

- 1 large courgette
- 1/2 a red pepper
- 1/2 a yellow pepper
- 3 tbsp pine nuts
- Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
- Coarse sea salt and black pepper
- 250g ricotta
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- A few sprigs of fresh parsley
- 5 dried figs roughly chopped

Method

- Preheat a fan oven to 220C.
- Roughly chop the courgette and the peppers and arrange on parchment paper on a baking tray. sprinkle over the pine nuts and drizzle with olive oil. Generously season with salt and pepper and bake for 15-20 minutes (or until browned).
- While the vegetables are in the oven, spread the ricotta evenly in the center of a large plate and dress with a good squeeze of half a lemon and some olive oil. Some black pepper wouldn't go amiss here either.
- Remove the vegetables and pine nuts from the oven and place in a salad bowl, oil and all. Add the vinegar and gently toss to coat- set aside to cool a little.
- Chop the dried figs into half centimeter pieces and prepare a few leaves or sprigs of fresh parsley.
- When ready to serve, spoon a generous amount of the vegetables onto the ricotta and finish by topping with the chopped dried figs, a squeeze of the second half of the lemon and some fresh parsley
- Grab a fork and dive in!