Ratatouille

This dish is perfect because it hides all the seasonal veggies I love. It's a classic from Provence that has been made many times in many versions, but the base is always eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and onion. Without those, ratatouille just isn't ratatouille :) It's perfect cold or warm, with bread, without bread, or as a side dish with meat, fish or pasta. It's simply a wonder of a dish, and I'm so glad I've finally managed to put it on my blog.

Ratatouille

One more thing: it's best with very ripe, sweet tomatoes. If you don't have any, use canned ones.

Ratatouille

Instructions:

Peel the onions and chop them finely. Peel the garlic and slice it thinly. Slice the bell peppers, zucchini and fennel as well.

Slice the eggplants into 1 cm slices and brush them with 3 tbsp of the olive oil, then arrange them on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler, or even better, grill them. It will take about 10 minutes, but after 5 minutes you need to flip the eggplant slices. They should turn nicely golden brown.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet, add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a little while longer. Add the bell peppers, fennel and zucchini and cook for another 5 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften.

If you're using fresh tomatoes, gently cut a small cross in each one, place them in a bowl, pour boiling water over them and let them sit covered for 1 minute. After that, pour cold water over them and peel off the skin. Cut them in half, remove the seed pockets (although I like my ratatouille to be a bit juicier, so I use the whole tomatoes) and cut them into large chunks. Canned tomatoes only need to be broken up a little. Add them to the vegetables in the skillet together with the eggplant, add the herbes de Provence and stir.

Turn the heat down, cover the skillet and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are completely tender. Season to taste and prepare the salsa.

Crush the herbs and garlic in a mortar or blend them with an immersion blender. Add a small amount of salt, the crushed or chopped capers, the olive oil, and the lemon zest and juice, and stir. Season to taste again.

Serve the finished ratatouille with a spoonful of the salsa.

Enjoy!

Source: "Jamie" 07/08 2012