Ratatouille!

No not the movie :)


My sister gifted me the Cook's Bible by Lorraine Turner a few years ago and I have been following recipes from it since.  I had never, until a few nights ago however made Ratatouille before. Its so far one of my favourite vegetarian recipes.

The bowl in this pic was a birthday gift from my lovely friend Kirsten. It came with a matching platter and any kitchen ware gifts are always welcome! 

Ratatouille

(serves 4)

• 1 Aubergine, about 250g/9oz
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 red peppers (capsicums), deseeded and cut into bite-sized chunks
• 800g/1 lb 12 oz canned chopped tomatoes
• 2 courgettes, sliced
• 1 celery stick, sliced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• salt and pepper
• fresh thyme sprigs, to garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Trim the aubergine and cut it into bite-sized chunks, then place it in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and leave to stand for 30mins.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring for 3mins until softened slightly. Rinse the aubergine and drain well, then add it to the saucepan with the red peppers. Reduce the heat and cook gently, stirring frequently for a further 10mins.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, courgettes, celery, sugar and thyme, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover the saucepan and leave to simmer gently for 30mins.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat, transfer to serving plates and garnish with fresh thyme sprigs.

The only type of aubergines my local grocery store stocked at the time was Chinese Aubergines, so I had no choice but to use this instead. They do not taste that differently from the usual aubergine ('American' or 'Globe' eggplant). If you use Chinese aubergines, you can eliminate Step 1 in the recipe as they have thinner skins and are more delicate in flavour, they also do not tend to have many of the seeds that make American/Globe eggplants bitter.

Ratatouille is such a versatile dish and really useful when catering for vegetarians. We had it for dinner as a side to compliment a Roasted Garlic chicken. It also goes well with jacket potatoes, rice or couscous. I like to sprinkle mine with a little parmesan cheese :)

Because of this cookbook, I came across another fantastic food photographer, Clive Bozzard-Hill. His style is pretty commercial, and I think i just might pick up ideas from his work as well from now on :)