This week it’s ratatouille.
From France, Spain, Italy, Greece right round the Middle East and Africa, everyone makes ratatouille and they all have their own style.
It is one of the greatest dishes and it’s an interesting thing that all of the best vegetable dishes are great served hot or cold. Personally I like black pudding and haggis cold but that’s another story!
It’s wonderful, both France and Spain claim it was their invention but personally I think it’s Italian.
I love it. I’ve got my own way of making it. It’s fantastic hot or cold and it will last around four or five days in the fridge. So why not give it a try?
Michelin star ratatouille
Serves six people as a main dish
1 litre of tomato juice
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 large aubergine, peeled and chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1 large yellow pepper, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
You can also add garlic if you want or garlic salt.
1 Put the tomato juice and tins on chopped tomatoes in a pan.
2 Add the onion and bring to the boil.
3 Stir and simmer for 20 minutes.
4 Peel your aubergine and cut it into thumb nail sized pieces. Add to the pan, stir and simmer for another 20 minutes.
5 Take your yellow and green peppers and chop them into thumb nail sized pieces. Add all of it, including the seeds, to the pan, don’t waste any of it.
6 Stir and simmer for a further 20 minutes.
7 Peel and slice the courgette and cut into chunky pieces. Add to the pan, stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
8 Take the pan off of the stove and let it cool at room temperature. You’ll be left with a wonderful minestrone type dish which is low in calories and completely natural.
There are many things you can do with it after this. If you want you can add olives to it or chopped anchovies and chorizo, although that’s not my kind of thing.
Once it’s made you can also put it in a dish, top it with cheese and put it under the grill to make a moussaka type dish or add a little balsamic or white wine vinegar to give it a bit of a kick.
It works really well cold with cottage cheese and it’s always better on the second day, just like a good stew.
It will take any herbs and it also works with salad and boiled eggs or with the late addition of sweetcorn, peas and beans. Alternatively, you can add some cream to it and make gazpacho.
It’s always on the menu here. It’s the Mediterranean stalwart of main and side dishes.
Aubergines are known as egg plants in America but did you know that it was originally grown as a decorative plant rather than a source of food?
Here are 10 more fascinating facts that you might not know about aubergines.
1 Aubergines are not vegetables, they are berries.
2 Aubergines and tomatoes are actually related. They both belong to the nightshade family.
3 Aubergine has the highest level of nicotine of any vegetable.
4 Aubergines are believed to have originated in India and the word comes from ancient Indian Sanskrit.
5 In Renaissance Italy, the aubergine was called mala insane or ‘crazy apple’.
6 Aubergines are 95% water.
7 According to a fifth century Chinese scroll, fashionable Chinese women used to make a dye out of the skin of purple aubergines and polish their teeth with it until they were a shiny grey.
8 China is the world's top aubergine producer.
9 Aubergines come in many different shapes and colours, including orange, white, light yellow, dark green and lime.
10 One cup of aubergine contains nearly 28 calories and almost 10% of your daily fibre. Aubergines are also rich in copper and potassium.
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