Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Rich, Roasted Ratatouille

I like my ratatouille like I like my men: dark, strong, rich, a little bit sweet and tall with blue eyes. Wait. What?

Rat-Stew, as we lovingly refer to this dish in my family is a fabulous dish! Especially useful for using up those potentially slightly dodgy veggies left over from last week's veggie market... The tomatoes, and aromatics are kinda necessary - but the bulking vegetables can be anything that's not too starchy, really.

Funny story, apparently when I was little I would eat courgette but not zucchini. The theory behind this being that my Grandfather referred to

This version, which is oven roasted, comes from my darling Sam Stern's Student Cookbook... I love that book! I have confused many a Boyfriend and flatmate by asking, broken heartedly "Where's Sam? Have you seen him? I've lost him!"... And then predictably locating the book under my bed from when I was reading it before bed...

The roasting causes it to be much richer than the, more usual to me, stove top version... I've never looked back!!


Ingredients:

A mix of:

An aubergine/ eggplant
A couple of courgettes
Capsicums
Carrots
Olives
Parsnips

Compulsory (ish):

1 large onion (red or white, red for preference!)
A couple of glugs of olive oil
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
4-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar (or red wine)
A pinch of brown or raw sugar
A sprinkle of ground cinnamon, dried herbs and salt and pepper

Set the oven to 200 degrees C

Chop your veggies up (and onion) into bite sized chunks and toss in the olive oil and half the vinegar. Pop into a tin and bung in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the remaining ingredients together.

Once the initial 15 minutes are up, pull the veggies out of the oven and pour over the tomatoey, garicky, herby mix. Throw the whole lot back in the oven for a further 30 minutes, or until tender-cooked.

Check for seasoning and serve hot, warm or cold - as a side or a main.

... It makes an amazing veggie lasagne!

Or, chuck in a can of lentils or chickpeas for a complete meal.

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