Ratatouille - Recette du jour

Summertime food

Touiller - french for 'to stir'.

Although usually made with tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, onions and aubergines, there are no real rules as to which vegetables should be used.

A traditional provençal stewed vegetable dish that can be eaten either hot or cold - quite handy for a picnic.

I prefer to eat it warm, on it's own with tons of french bread and a bit of cheese afterwards.

It goes very well with chicken, lamb and fish.


Ratatouille

Preparation : 25 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour

Ingredients :
For 4 people

1 Large onion - thinly sliced
1 Clove of garlic - crushed
1oz of butter
2 tbs of good olive oil
2 medium sized aubergines
3 medium sized courgettes - sliced
1 of each : small green, red & yellow pepper.
500g of fresh tomatoes - although if you really must, tinned tomatoes will do
1 Laurel leaf
2 tbs of fresh coriander

Method :

1) Cut the aubergines into thick (2cm) slices, cover with salt and leave to one side.
2) Prepthe tomatoes - place them in boiling water for about 20 seconds, transfer them to ice cold water then peel off the skins. Cut un half, remove the seeds, then cut into rough, dice sized, pieces.
3) Prepare the peppers - top and tail them, remove the hearts containing the seeds and rinse thoroughly under cold running water.
4) Cut all of the other vegetables into even sized chunks (2 cms).
5) Fry the onions lightly in the butter and the oil.
6) Rince an dry the aubergines and cut them into quarters.
7) Add all of the vegetables to the onions.
8) Add in the Laurel leaf and coriander season with freshly ground perpper and salt.
9) Cover and leave to simmer for about an hour.

This can be served immediately but it tastes much better if left overnight and reheated the next day.

When cooking with tomatoes it's always a good idea to add in 1/2 a glass of orange juice to counter the acidity.