Majorcan vegetable bake

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The ingredients

Another Gent night contender that would make a nice vegetarian main course or an accompaniment. I've increased the garlic from a measly 2 cloves in the original recipe to about 6 as I can't imagine any self-respecting Spaniard ever putting just 2 Cloves of garlic in a dish to serve 6 people!

Be bold, vary the vegetables to match what you have lying around at the time.

This was a very nice, and very easy vegetable dish, it will be made again.

Ingredients

• 400g can peeled plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano or marjoram, chopped
• 3 tablespoon olive oil plus a little more to dress the dish with
• 6 fat Cloves of garlic (or to taste), half peeled and crushed, the remaining half peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 aubergine, sliced
• 1 sweet bell pepper of any colour
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 650g potatoes, peeled and sliced: Desiree, King Edward, Lady Balfour, Maris Piper, Melody etc.
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

• Crusty bread

Mise en place

• Preheat the oven to 200° C (400° F - gas 6), [fan oven 180° C & reduce cooking time by 10 mins per hour]

Method

1. Add 1.5 tablespoons of the oil to a pan and sizzle the garlic for a minute and then add the tomatoes, oregano, season and simmer for 10 minutes to reduce a little.
2. Toss the aubergine, pepper and onion in the remaining oil, season and arrange in a baking tray and oven roast for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and arrange the potatoes and vegetables in layers.
4. Pour over the tomato sauce, add a grind of black pepper and a glug of olive oil.
5. Cover with tin foil and bake for 1 hour, removing the tin-foil half way through.

Serving suggestions

Serve with crusty bread.

Chef's notes

Never one to resist playing around, I added 1/2 a glass of red wine and a big pinch of chilli flakes to the tomato sauce.

I think that in future I would finish under a grill to really crisp up the potatoes.