Ingredients for 4 people:2 bell peppers1 aubergine4 zucchini4 carrots2 onions1 tbsp capers preserved in vinegar2 cloves of garlic1 tsp oregano6 basil leaves8 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil2 tbsp Sugo all'arrabbiata (=hot tomato sauce) salt pepper
Wash, pat dry and clean the vegetables; cut them into large pieces and tip them a into a baking tin, greased with 2 tablespoons of oil. Quickly rinse the capers under running water, then add them to the vegetables together with the cloves of garlic and oregano, season with the remaining olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix everything together well and cook in a preheated oven, at 190 °C, for roughly 40 minutes, without stirring the vegetables.
In the meanwhile, prepare the “Sugo all’arrabbiata”. Wash and clean the onion and bell pepper, removing the seeds and internal membranes from the latter. Coarsely chop them both with the parsley (only the leaves, washed and patted dry) and sauté this chopped mixture in a heavy-bottomed frying pan, in which you have slightly heated the olive oil and chill peppers, broken into small pieces. When everything has browned, add the peeled tomatoes and salt. Stir, cook for 5 minutes and then squash the tomatoes with the tip of a wooden spoon or a fork; continue cooking for 15-20 minutes, until you have a creamy sauce.
When the 40 minutes are up, remove the vegetables from the oven, add 2 tablespoons of arrabbiata sauce, stir delicately and return to the oven for roughly 20 minutes. Then take the baking tin out, leave to rest for about 10 minutes, remove the cloves of garlic and transfer the vegetables onto a serving dish. Garnish with the basil leaves and serve. You can accompany these vegetables with slices of toasted homemade bread, maybe even spread with the rest of the arrabbiata sauce.
This summer vegetable side dish is cheerful, colourful and, above all, very tasty. It goes perfectly with meat or fish main courses, preferably cooked in a simple way, such as grilled. You can prepare the recipe all year round, using whatever the vegetable patch offers as the seasons go by.