Ratatouille recipe

With so much produce available at this time of year, we are always looking at ways to use and store our produce. Every year I make a big batch of ratatouille to eat straight away and freeze the rest during the winter months for that reminder of summer.

Ratatouille is a type of vegetable stew, using a mixture of vegetable's hailing from provence in the south of France. We often use this as a side dish, poured over pasta or as a meal on its own. Its certainly one that we feel should always be in the freezer.

Most ratatouille recipes will call for a good glug of wine to be added, however we don't like wine in our food so we omit this for our personal taste.

Ratatouille

While we made this years batch using the ingredients below, the use of other vegetables and herbs could also be added. I also recommend choppong the vegetable into large chunks.

Ingredients

• 1 chopped onion (grown on our allotment)
• A table spoon of olive oil
• 1 courgette chopped (grown in our garden)
• 1 sweet pepper (grown in our garden)
• 1 aubergine (grown in our garden)
• 1kg tomatoes chopped (grown in our garden)
• 1tbs sherry vinegar
• 1 clove of garlic (grown in our allotment)
• 2 sage leaves chopped (grown in our garden)
• 5 basil leaves chopped (grown in our garden)
• 1 sprig of thyme (grown in our garden)

Method

1. Heat a big pan with the oil then add the onion and gently fry until soft.
2. Add the courgette, sweet pepper, and aubergine (or whatever vegetables you might be using) and gently fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add in the tomatoes and a splash of water just to prevent the tomatoes from catching on the bottom of the pan. Gently cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
4. Add the vinegar crush the garlic clove and add to the pan along with all the other herbs. Place a lid on the pan and allow to gently cook for 1 hour.
5. Remove the sprig of thyme and serve.

Verdict

We love ratatouille anyway so its no surprise to say we loved this too. We had this alongside our roast gammon on a Sunday but we had it again on Monday night as a meal on itself.

Although we don't add wine for our personal taste, the sherry vinegar adds the sharpness that just gives this a kick.

Give it a try and let us know how you got on with it.