Pretty Vegetables

As a committed carnivore I don't often get excited by vegetarian food but hey, it's national vegetarian week so why not embrace the concept for once. Abby at eat the right stuff is hosting a blogging event to showcase favorite vegetarian recipes so here's mine, the perfect starter for a warm summer's day. Last year I don't think I had the chance to make it!

It's basically a deconstructed ratatouille, a simple stack of marinated roasted vegetables with a tomato emulsion and a virgin mary sorbet. Part of the recipe I stole from Gary Rhodes' Aubergine Charlotte dish, but I added a sorbet instead of a butter sauce for an interesting contrast in temperature and a touch of sweetness that melts beautifully into the stack of finely diced fennel, aubergine, courgette, and peppers. I can't wait for my own crop of tomatoes to be ready later this summer when I should get fantastic flavour for the sorbet.

For the vegetable stack

Use a mixture of courgette, onion, roasted peppers, aubergine, garlic, olive oil and thyme. Cook and leave overnight to allow the flavours to mix.

For the tomato dressing (blend ingredients to form a stable emulsion)

4 tbsp passata
1 dessert spoon tomato ketchup
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 drops tabasc0
100ml olive oil

For the Virgin Mary sorbet

225g sugar
150ml water
bunch of basil leaves
425ml fresh tomato juice
juice 1/2 lemon
Worcestershire and tabasco sauce
salt and pepper.


Make a sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar in the water and then boiling until it creates a light "vaseline" syrup. Infuse the basil leaves in the sugar syrup and cool. When cool, mix syrup with tomato juice and lemon juice. Season well with salt and pepper, Worcestershire and tabasco sauces, and freeze in an ice cream maker.