Oven-baked salad with cherry tomatoes and basil

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 50 g sultanas
• 3 onions, approx. 200 g
• 2 m.-large zucchini, large specimens hollowed out
• 1 eggplant(s)
• 200 g celery
• 1 tsp oregano, dried
• salt and pepper
• 8 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp powdered sugar
• 40 g pine nuts
• 125 ml tomato(s), pureed
• 8 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 30 g capers
• 300 g cherry tomatoes
• 4 stalks of basil

Instructions

Working time approx. 35 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours

Caponata

Blanch the sultanas in 100 ml of boiling water and set aside. Cut the onions into large half-moons. Quarter the zucchini lengthwise and cut into 2 cm pieces. Cut the eggplant into 2 cm cubes. Clean and de-string the celery, and cut it diagonally into 2 cm pieces. Toss the vegetables on a deep baking tray with the oregano and salt. Drizzle with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Dust the vegetables evenly with icing sugar. Bake in a preheated oven at 220 °C (fan oven not recommended) for 25 minutes, stirring briefly after 15 minutes. Roast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden brown and let cool on a plate. Mix the passata and vinegar in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper. Stir in the remaining olive oil and capers. Add the sultanas and the soaking water. Transfer the vegetables from the tray to the bowl and gently mix with the marinade. Let the vegetables simmer for at least 1 hour. Halve the cherry tomatoes, pick and roughly chop the basil leaves, and stir both into the vegetables. Sprinkle the caponata with pine nuts. Serve with fennel and pepper polenta.