Ratatouille

Ratatouille

I had a craving for crunchy bread and tomato based sauce, so I whipped up a “structured” Ratatouille just to have in all its glory. Traditionally, the dish is more like a stew, but I find the flavours mix too much and I love to be able to identify each vegetable with every bite.

Ingredients

• 2 cups thickly sliced vegetables (finger eggplant, courgettes, mushroom, squash)
• 1 litre good Passata
• 1 tin puree tomato
• 1 shallot (finely diced)
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/2 glass red wine
• Salt and Pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 180c.
Saute shallots and garlic in a little olive oil until softened.
Add Passata, tomato and wine to pan.
Season to taste.
Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour half the sauce into the bottom of a casserole dish.
Place the sliced vegetables in the dish (neatly standing up and alternating vegetables).
Pour the remaining sauce over the top.
Cover the dish and bake in oven until vegetables are tender.

Serve generously with plenty of sauce and crunchy buttered bread.
Alternatively, serve with lamb as a healthy side dish.

Serves 2 main or 4 side dishes.