Slow-cooked Ratatouille
Perfect for using up leftover produce, this slow-cooked ratatouille is packed with summery vegetables. Serve with a big green salad and hunks of bread.
Introduction
Ratatouille is the taste of summer. It’s perfect for warm evenings or weekends when you have lots of produce in the refrigerator to use up. On holiday in France, my mum used to make a huge pot of this over the fire and we’d have it with sausages that had also been cooked over the fire and salad from the garden. Afterwards, we’d toast marshmallows, which later were replaced with wine and cheese. We’d sit outside for hours until it was dark, then watch for shooting stars until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. Every time I make this, it reminds me of those special evenings.
Ingredients
| 2 | aubergines (eggplants), roughly chopped |
| 3 | courgettes (zucchini), roughly chopped |
| 120ml (4 fl oz/ ½ cup) | extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 | onion, diced |
| 4 | garlic cloves, roughly chopped |
| 4 | tomatoes, diced |
| 2 × 400g (14oz) tins of | chopped tomatoes |
| Small bunch of | fresh basil, leaves shredded |
| 1-2 tbsp | red wine vinegar |
| 200g (7oz) | chestnut (cremini) mushrooms, halved |
| sea salt and freshly ground black pepper |
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
Put the aubergines and courgettes onto a baking tray (pan), drizzle with 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and slightly charred. Turn them in the tray a couple of times during the cooking so that they cook evenly and don’t burn.
Put the remaining oil and the onion into a large heavy-based saucepan along with a pinch of salt. Cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn’t catch.
Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes, watching so it doesn’t burn. Add the diced tomatoes to the pan and cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, then add the tinned tomatoes, basil and red wine vinegar. Check the seasoning, add the mushrooms and let everything cook for a further 20 minutes.
Once the aubergines and courgettes are cooked, add them to the sauce. Cover and let everything cook slowly for as long as you like until it’s rich and reduced. Try to leave it for at least 20 minutes, but longer if you can.
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