Ratatouille
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Ratatouille is one of those dishes with great ROI because it looks impressive and tastes great, and takes rather little effort to make – cut the veggies and cook them in the oven. As usual, my recipes are more principles than exacting measures because I cook by feel.
Ingredients
- Aubergine/eggplant/brinjal (I don’t really bother which I use though I haven’t tried the small round Thai ones yet)
- Courgette/zucchini
- Peppers/bell peppers/capsicum (I picked red and yellow coz I have green already from the courgette)
- Chopped tin tomatoes or pasata (I don’t like using fresh tomatoes as the ones from the market taste rather meh and the “nice” ones are so expensive
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- In an oven proof baking dish, drizzle some olive oil and add the bay leaves;
- Arrange the chopped veggies (I cut them in discs and arranged them in a circle for fun but there’s not set way of arranging them. I also like my ratatouille chunky but you can dice them into smaller bits);
- Season the chopped tomatoes with salt and pepper and spoon the tomato over the other vegetables;
- Add garlic evenly throughout (I used a whole bulb, peeled, because I like garlic)
- Oven bake for 40-50 minutes at 180°C (I don’t bother to pre-heat my oven) till veggies are tender and cooked through.
Sometimes I add chopped parsley (flat or curly leaf) and some recipes call for basil but I didn’t have either today. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.
Ratatouille smells amazing out of the oven and tastes better the next day coz the flavours have had a chance to meld. It’s a great leftover veggie side and works as a meal prep staple in a salad or grain bowl.
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I usually manage to get my veggies from the market or veggie shop naked (or in my BYO cotton multi-purpose bag) and these veggies keep well in the fridge.