Sunshine colours, sunshine food

Gorgeous Roasted Vegetables and Feta

We all want to feel good and when our food is colourful and we've taken time to enjoy the process of preparing it, it tastes in even better.

Using finger aubergine cut into short lengths, their skins retain some of their bright purple hue if you only bake them for 20 minutes or so.  With the addition of red and green paprika and some slices of courgette, bathed in fresh, extra virgin olive oil, this makes a real treat.  To maximise the flavours just sprinkle a little salt and leave covered to one side for up to an hour before putting into the oven.

The oven should be pre-heated to 180c and should take no more than 20 minutes.  Add your feta after this, crumbled roughly so that that you large pieces as well as small and place back into the oven for five to ten minutes with the heat switched off.  As the oven cools the feta will become soft and the will partially melt with vegetables.

As you put the vegetables into the oven, take a cupful of couscous or bulgur wheat and add warm water and cover for 30 minutes.  Drain this just before you take the vegetables and feta out of the oven.  Serve separately with chopped parsley mixed into it with a pinch of salt and pepper and squirt of lime.

To make the dinner a trio of dishes, why not add a simple tomato salad.  Very ripe tomatoes, chopped up roughly, with a small pinch of salt, a generous helping of olive oil and two dessert spoons of good sherry vinegar.  Add an inch of grated ginger and stir and leave to stand for 20 minutes before serving.