Ratatouille

According to Google – The origin of the dish is in the area around Provence and Nice. Originally, the word “ratatouille” means from 1778 a motley stew. … It is composed of pieces of cooked vegetables, especially eggplant, onions, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes, and garlic. (Thats Aubergine and Courgette to everyone speaking English). Here’s my version – but I think it changes a little every time I make it.

4 Aubergine – 1cm dice
4 Courgettes – 1/4 discs, 1cm length. deseeded)
2 onions – fine dice
2 cloves garlic (pressed/minced)
6-ish mushrooms (closed cup)
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
2 cans tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
2 bay leaf
Basil, Oregano – fresh or dried. (or Italian mix)
salt to taste

So – the ingredient list is a handy helper – no need to be exact here. Key to a good ratatouille (in my opinion) is getting the dice size right, so that it’s not too chunky, and cooks evenly. Ideally everything diced to circa 1cm – apart from the onion, which is more background sauce. Also – don’t overdo the tomato – it can overpower. Get all the ingredients n the pan, then just enough canned tomato to ‘wet up and make a sauce’.

With a decent size pot – onion in first. fine dice. fry off till softened. Add peppers then courgettes, aubergines, mushrooms. sweat it all off till a little soft. add the remaining ingredients and stew for 15 mins. Might need a bit of water to wet up – not much, its a stew not a soup. Salt to taste finish with the herbs, taste and serve.

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