Introduction
Ratatouille is a slow stew of summer vegetables cooked in olive oil: aubergine, courgette, peppers, onions and tomatoes. Make it at the end of summer when these vegetables are cheap and ripe. Serve it hot with rice or bread, cold as a salad, or as a side to grilled fish or eggs.
The dish comes from Nice and Provence, in the south of France. The name comes from the Occitan word ratatolha and the French touiller, “to stir”. In Provence, cooks argue about whether to cook every vegetable apart before mixing them; frying them in turn, as here, keeps each one’s taste and texture.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 aubergine, cut into 2 cm cubes
- 2 courgettes, cut into 2 cm cubes
- 2 red or yellow peppers, cut into 2 cm squares
- 2 onions, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 5 ripe tomatoes, chopped (or a can of chopped tomatoes)
- 3 sprigs of thyme and 1 bay leaf
- salt and black pepper
- a handful of basil leaves
Tools
- A large pot with a lid
- A large frying pan
- A wooden spoon
Preparation
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the frying pan and fry the aubergine over a high heat for about 8 minutes, until browned. Season with salt and put it in a bowl.
- Do the same with the courgettes (about 5 minutes) and then the peppers (about 6 minutes), adding a little oil each time.
- In the pot, cook the onions in the rest of the oil over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook one minute more.
- Add the tomatoes, thyme and bay leaf and cook for 10 minutes, until the tomatoes collapse.
- Add all the fried vegetables, stir gently, cover and simmer on a low heat for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove the thyme and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper and add torn basil leaves just before serving.