Ratatouille

Summer Vegetables • Tomato • Herbes de Provence — Provence, France

Provence in a pot: eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomato, each cooked on its own first, then married in a slow simmer. It tastes better on day two — make it ahead without guilt.

Ingredients

• 400 g — Eggplant, in 1-inch cubes
• 400 g — Zucchini, in half-moons
• 300 g — Bell peppers, mixed colors, in strips
• 400 g — Tomatoes, chopped (or canned) (2 cups)
• 150 g — Onion, diced (1 cup)
• 15 g — Garlic (3 cloves)
• 4 g — Herbes de Provence (2 tsp)
• 80 ml — Olive oil (⅓ cup)
• 10 g — Fresh basil, to serve

Step-by-Step Method

1. Salt the eggplant. Eggplant cubes salted for 20 minutes, then patted dry. This pulls out bitterness and stops the eggplant drinking a whole bottle of oil.
2. Brown each vegetable separately. Peppers, then zucchini, then eggplant — each seared in olive oil until golden at the edges and set aside. Cooking them together from raw gives you steamed mush; separately gives you ratatouille.
3. Build the tomato base. Onion softened in the same pot, garlic and herbs for 30 seconds, tomatoes in to simmer 10 minutes into a sauce.
4. Marry them, gently. All the vegetables back in, folded through the sauce, lid on, lowest heat 25–30 minutes until silky but each vegetable still knows its name. Basil and a thread of your best olive oil at the table.

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