Ratatouille

I’ve overindulged a little recently and as a result my body is absolutely craving some really healthy veggie loaded food. All these colourful ingredients were staring at me at the green grocers and cooking up a large batch of Ratatouille immediately sprang to mind.

Everyone knows how to make a Ratatouille right? Well here’s my version anyway. If you want to you can vary the combinations of these vegetables to suit your tastes. More aubergine, less courgette for example. I personally love all these vegetables so wouldn’t leave any of them out.

Ingredients (serves 3 as a side dish)

Extra Virgin olive oil
1 onion diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 courgette, diced
1 large aubergine (or in my case 2 baby aubergine’s as that’s what the shop had)
1 tin of organic chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomato purée (pure concentrate, with no added ingredients)
a few fresh basil leaves
a large pinch of dried mixed herbs (Thyme, Rosemary, Basil, Oregano etc)
black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a large pinch of fresh parsley (dried in my case)

Method

Heat a glug of olive in a large saucepan or wok.
Fry the onions until they soften, then add the aubergine, courgettes and peppers one vegetable at a time so that they each have a time to soften.
When they’ve had a good few minutes and are beginning to brown, add the tomato purée, fresh basil, black pepper and continue to stir.
Add the tin of chopped tomatoes. Stir, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid and cook for a further 10 minutes till the sauce thickens.
Remove from the heat and add the garlic and fresh parsley.

Ratatouille can be served so many ways. I had mine with a simply baked haddock fillet (lemon, olive oil and seasoning) plus a rocket salad, dressed with a lemon juice and a few toasted pine nuts. Leftovers will go in the freezer and could be served as follows; With a baked sweet potato, with a grilled Sirloin or Venison Steak, with baked salmon, as a basis for *fake* lasagna , or other oven bake (layered with sweet potato or butternut squash? mmm). You could even whizz the mixture in a blender and serve it as soup or as a sauce for vegetable pasta – Endless fun..