How to make Ratatouille

From The Star

Cooking and preparation time: One hour and 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

Ratatouille

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 green capsicum, thinly sliced and seeds removed

1 red capsicum thinly sliced and seeds removed

1 big eggplant, chopped into cubes

Fresh tomatoes, chopped into cube and remove skin and seed

Tomato puree (Chef Jean likes the alce nero brand)

2 zucchinis, chopped into cubes and sprinkled with sea salt to remove excess water

3-4 cloves of chopped garlic

1 small table spoon of fresh rosemary, chopped

1 small table spoon of fresh oregano, chopped

1 small table spoon of fresh basil, chopped

Brown sugar

Coarse sea salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Optional: Black olives, saffron, smoked chilli, sun dried tomatoes.

1. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a shallow pan. Add the eggplant and cook until browned evenly on all sides. Set aside. Repeat the same process with the zucchini.

2. In a thick-bottomed or a cast iron pot, heat two tablespoons of oil and add in the onion.

3. Once soft, pop in the green and red capsicum. Toss in the chopped garlic and leave to simmer until soft before adding the zucchinis and eggplants. Add the tomatoes and mix well.

4. Add the chopped herbs, and brown sugar and cook uncovered on low heat for one hour for the flavours to blend.

5. Season with salt and pepper.

The dish can be kept in the fridge for four days and the taste gets better when reheated. And the bonus is you can eat it warm, or cold, which makes it perfect friend for barbecues.