Ratatouille is a traditional French dish which packs plenty of vegetables into a tasty meal for the entire family to enjoy. This rustic recipe will serve four, is ready in about 40 minutes and packs in a massive 4 of your 5-a-day quota for fruit and veg!
What you’ll need
4 large tomatoes
2 peppers
4 courgettes
2 aubergines
1 diced onion
3 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Basil
Sugar
How to cook it
- Prepare your vegetables by chopping your aubergines, courgettes and peppers into bite size chunks.
- Quarter your tomatoes and scrape out the seeds before roughly chopping into smaller pieces.
- Heat a heavy bottomed sauté pan over a medium flame and then add a large glug of olive oil.
- Brown your aubergines, courgettes and peppers on each side for 5 minutes or until soft. TIP – Be careful not to overcook the vegetables at this stage.
- Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside for later. Add in a little more oil if required and cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Stir in a handful of basil, a pinch of sugar and your tomatoes and allow to cook for a minute.
- Return your vegetables to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes. TIP – now’s the time to add a little salt and pepper to your meal if required.
- After 5 minutes of cooking it’s time to dish up and enjoy!
Spice things up a little
If you would like to create your own version of this traditional ratatouille dish why not add some chicken, chilli and fresh noodles for a modern twist on a French classic.
Image courtesy of flickr user jplahm