Chilled grilled vegetables with eggplant

Recipe by Milton Rodrigues, Chef de Partie, at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa’s culinary department.

For four portion
For vegetable tower:
40gm Capsicum, cut into small roundels
40gm Red bell peppers, cut into small roundels
40gm Yellow bell peppers, cut into small roundels
40gm Baby marrow, cut into small roundels
40gm Zucchini, cut into small roundels
40gm Buffalo mozzarella cheese, cut into small roundels
4gm Thyme, fine chopped
4gm Rosemary, fine chopped
20ml Olive oil
4nos Spaghetti stick, fried
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Cut the capsicum, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, baby marrow, zucchini and the buffalo mozzarella into small roundels.
2. Make a marinade with chopped rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and the oil and marinate all the vegetables.
3. Grill the vegetables on a hot plate or on the griller and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.
For eggplant relish:
28gm Eggplant, small dices
12gm Onions, chopped
16gm Tomatoes, chopped
8ml Red wine vinegar
4gm Basil, chopped
4gm Coriander
8ml Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onions, when golden add to it the eggplant and keep stirring till half done.
2. Add to it the chopped tomatoes and the seasonings and the red wine vinegar.
3. Cook till the eggplants are cooked and finish with basil and coriander.
Presentation
1. On a plate, make a tower of grilled vegetables roundels using a medium round pastry cutter.
2. Make two small towers of the eggplant relish using small round pastry cutter and place on the either side of the vegetable tower and drizzle reduced balsamic vinegar with dots of pesto sauce (optional) as garnish.
3. And garnish the dish with a fried spaghetti standing from one end of the plate towards the centre of the vegetable tower resting on one of the towers of the eggplant relish.