The Foodies Forum

MissMuppet · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:33 pm Post subject: Ratatouille

I just made this, but used tinned plum tomatoes (drained) and 2 yellow peppers instead of 1 red. I needed to use my courgettes up from the garden. Was VERY nice, I even licked the plate...

Might have some more later!

Ratatouille is a Southern French vegetable dish, now popular the world over. It is classically made by frying all the vegetables in olive oil, and then stewing them gently together to make a soft, aromatic stew. Olive oil is a lot healthier than other fats, but in order to reduce the calories, this recipe uses less oil than is traditional.

Ingredients
2 medium courgettes
l medium aubergine
l red pepper
l yellow pepper
2 medium onions, red or white
6 ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
2 large sprigs basil, roughly chopped
pinch salt
Few screws of the black pepper mill

Method
Slice the courgettes thickly, dice the aubergine into bite-size blocks, skin and chop the onions, de-seed and remove the seeds and pith from the peppers and cut them into bite-size pieces.

Dip the tomatoes into boiling water for 10 seconds or until the skins will peel off easily. Dunk them into cold water to make them cool enough to handle. peel them and cut into quarters.

Put all the vegetables except the aubergine into a roasting tin and turn carefully in the olive oil to coat each piece. Then add the aubergine and mix again. (The reason you add the aubergine last is it absorbs the oil like blotting paper and nothing else will get properly oiled if it goes in first!).

Put the pan into a hot oven or under a grill and cook until the vegetables are turning brown. Give them a stir every now and then to brown them evenly. It is not essential to brown the veg at all but it gives the finished dish a richer taste. (If preferred, you can also brown them in a frying pan, one vegetable at a time).

Transfer into a saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients except half the basil, and stew gently, with a lid on, until soft and reduced to a pulpy mix. This can take between 20 and 40 minutes depending on the heat under the pan and the juiciness of the tomatoes.

Tip into a serving dish and serve hot with the remaining basil sprinkled on top. Or allow to cool, transfer into a bowl, and sprinkle with the rest of the basil before stirring.

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