Char-Grilled Vegetables with Olive Oil

Ingredients

• 1.eggplant, sliced; cut up carefully to keep as flat as possible
• 2.kumara, sweet potato; sliced
• 3.onion, sliced
• 4.zucchini, sliced; leave oyster mushrooms whole
• 5.capsicum, bell pepper; sliced
• 6.oyster mushrooms, left whole
• 7.light olive oil, to brush or spray vegetables
• 8.extra-virgin olive oil, to serve over finished vegetables
• 9.sea salt, to season
• 10.black pepper, freshly ground; to season

Method

1. 1.Preheat your barbecue or a heavy pan with grill markings, such as a Le Creuset.
2. 2.Slice the vegetables and cut them up carefully to keep pieces as flat as possible. Leave the oyster mushrooms whole.
3. 3.Brush sliced vegetables or, better still, spray them with light olive oil and place on the grill.
4. 4.After a couple of minutes, lift them up and turn them around 90°, so that they cook with a cross-marking. Repeat on the other side.
5. 5.Serve with good-quality extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.

Notes

• Card headline: 'We have a great variety of vegetables in this country and some of the best are often overlooked. Cook them in this way and even the most fussy eater will ask for more. Use any vegetables you like, but I suggest you choose them in different colours so that the dish is very colourful.'
• From the 'Plates' South African cookbook (photocopied page inserted into family collection).
• Kumara = sweet potato (New Zealand / South African term).
• Capsicum = bell pepper.