Ratatouille is a traditional peasant stew, originating from Nice in the Provence region of Southern France. There seem to be numerous recipes for ratatouille but I wanted to create a version that was a far cry from those overcooked dishes that I had as a vegetarian teenager.
In my version, I've tried to reduce the cooking time so that the individual vegetables keep their distinct flavours and textures.
Traditional recipes use thyme but I prefer marjoram, a lovely herb that is similar to oregano but has a sweeter, earthy flavour that goes really well in this dish. It's delicious served on it's own with crusty bread, or with oily salmon or even used in a delicious vegetarian lasagne.
2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 courgette
½ aubergine
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of dried marjoram
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Seasoning
- Cut the onion, peppers, courgettes and aubergine into 1 cm dice, keeping the ingredients separate.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based, lidded sauté pan, over a low to medium heat.
- When the oil is up to temperature add the peppers and onions.
- Scatter over the dried marjoram and stir to combine.
- Sauté until the onion has softened and the edges of the pepper have started to turn golden brown.
- Remove the mix from the pan and set aside.
- Pour a further tablespoon of olive oil into the hot pan and add the diced courgette.
- Sauté for a few minutes until the courgette starts to colour.
- Remove from the pan and set aside with the onion and peppers.
- Add a further tablespoon (or more as required)of olive oil to the hot pan and throw in the diced aubergine.
- Sauté until the aubergine has softened and started to turn golden brown.
- Return the peppers, onions and courgette to the pan and stir to combine.
- Crush the garlic cloves and add those to the pan. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring all of the time.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes and add the tomato puree and red wine vinegar.
- Season well then stir again to combine.
- Increase the heat and once the mixture is bubbling, lower the heat, cover and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes.
