Cold Penne with Vegetables

The boy and I have been invited to a street party to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It’s on a junction of two roads, just behind our house. I'm not 100% certain that this is what we’ll be taking but it does satisfy our criteria of being plentiful and cheap. We will scale it up 3 times if we settle on this.

300g penne pasta

2 yellow or red peppers

1 large aubergine, sliced

3 courgettes, sliced

1 sprig basil, torn

½  tsp ginger, grated

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper

Get the oven hot – 230/Gas8. Halve the peppers and place them skin side up on a baking tray and cook for 15 mins or until the skins are blackened and charred. Place them in a plastic bag and seal it. The steam will make it easier to remove the skins.

Put the courgette and aubergine slices on a tray, drizzle with olive oil and pop them into the oven for 10 mins. Set aside.

The boy is cooking the pasta in plenty of salted water. He looks like he knows what he's doing and after 10 minutes, he's fishing a piece out and biting it to check that it;s al dente. He repeats every 2 or 3 minutes until he's sure. I'm feeling rather proud of him. Meanwhile I’m peeling the skin from the peppers. I’m getting 90% of it off, which will have to do. Cut into short slices.

The boy is halving the courgette coins and cutting the aubergine into similar sized pieces.

The pasta is done. We drain it and rinse under cold water. It’s spread out on clean tea towels to dry out. We ignore everything for half an hour and listen to a comedy on the radio.

When all is cool, combine everything in a large salad bowl. Let it sit for 2 hours. Mix again and taste.

Does it need more oil? I think it may need some sharpness. This could come from a handful of capers, a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of wine vinegar. The boy is going for red wine vinegar. I love it when he gets involved like this.