Antipasti salad

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 50 g pine nuts
• 150 g shallot(s) or mild onions
• 300 g zucchini, small
• 300 g eggplant(s), small
• 3 peppers, red, green and yellow
• 75 g Parmesan, grated
• olive oil
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 10 tbsp red wine vinegar, or Aceto Rosso
• 3 tbsp Pesto alla Genovese
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Roast the pine nuts in a pan without fat until golden brown, remove and set aside. Wash the vegetables, peel and trim if necessary, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the vegetables briefly and vigorously in batches. Sprinkle each batch lightly with sugar, let it caramelize briefly, deglaze with a little red wine vinegar and put a lid on the pan. Let the vegetables simmer briefly for 1-3 minutes. Sauté harder vegetables for longer, softer ones for less time. Place the sautéed vegetables in a bowl. Mix the vegetables with the grated Parmesan cheese, pesto, pine nuts and a little salt and pepper. Cover and chill for about 1 hour and let it marinate. Before serving, season to taste with a little more vinegar, salt, pepper or pesto. The salad can be prepared in large quantities the day before and tastes even more delicious after several days in the fridge. You can also add other vegetables, such as onions. E.g. carrots, cocktail tomatoes, broccoli, kohlrabi, fennel etc. The salad can also be wonderfully combined with cooked pasta or stretched if there is not enough vegetables.