Ratatouille is a traditional peasant stew, originating from Nice in the Provence region of Southern France. It's delicious served with oily fish such as salmon, but is also a lovely accompaniment to lamb chops or steak.
Authentic ratatouille is cooked in a pan, and has a rich tomato sauce. I do love it cooked this way but wanted a version that I could throw together when I wanted a really easy but tasty dinner.
This recipe is very simple, as all of the ingredients are thrown into a baking tray and roasted until they are softened and slightly blackened. The roasting really does seem to intensify those beautiful flavours.
Serves 4 as a side dish
2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red onion
1 yellow pepper
½ small aubergine
2 garlic cloves
1 courgette
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Handful of pitted black olives
1 tablespoons of dried marjoram or a few sprigs of thyme
Seasoning
To serve
Drizzle of balsamic vinegar (optional)
Basil leaves
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Peel the onion and cut it into wedges or dice.
- Cut the pepper and aubergine into small dice.
- Cut the courgette into small dice and set aside.
- Drizzle some olive oil into the bottom of a large baking tray.
- Throw in the onion, pepper and aubergine. Drizzle over a little more oil and mix well.
- Place in the hot oven and cook for 20 minutes.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and increase the heat to 210°C.
- Throw in the courgette, cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves (still in their skins) and olives if using. Sprinkle over the marjoram and seasoning.
- Drizzle over a little more oil and mix again.
- Return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the garlic from the tray, peel off the skin and return to the pan. Squish with the back of a fork and stir into the vegetables.
