recipe #16: ratatouille niçoise
You’ve seen the movie, so you’ve probably heard of the dish. I’d heard of it but until 2 days ago, I’d never actually tried it. Turns out, it’s pretty spectacular, decently healthy, totally vegan and the ingredients are ludicrously inexpensive. I don’t say this lightly, but this recipe is better than my shakshouka.
How many other dishes do you know that are cheap, healthy, don’t take a lot of work, and something impressive enough to serve a loved one? That’s not a challenge, I’d actually love to know but until then let me show you how simple yet divine this ratatouille can be.
Serves 2–4 (depends on whether you’re having it as a main or side)
~ 1 hour of cooking, 15 minutes prep
Ingredients
40ml olive oil (divided)
100g onions, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
40g tomato paste
1/2 red pepper, small dice
1/2 yellow pepper, small dice
1/2 green pepper, small dice
1/2 courgette, small dice
1/2 eggplant (aubergine), small dice
400g plum tomatoes
1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, parsley stalks, thyme, leek tied together)
60ml water
1/2 bunch basil, finely chopped)
Method
Salt your diced aubergine and set aside.
Blanche, peel, de-seed, and roughly chop tomatoes. Here’s a quick link if you’re not familiar with peeling a tomato.
Sweat onions and garlic in olive oil on low heat, after two minutes, add in tomato paste and cook for another two minutes.
In a separate hot pan, saute the peppers in olive oil until they’ve browned a little. Once browned add to the onion mixture.
In the same pan as the peppers, saute the courgette in a little olive oil until colored. Add to the vegetable mixture.
Wash the salted aubergine, squeeze out any excess liquid and saute in a little olive oil, then add to the vegetable mixture.
Add your bouquet garni, water, and chopped tomatoes, reduce to low heat and cook with a lid on for an hour until mostly dry (or your preferred texture).
Add chopped basil, mix and serve!
