Sunday 21 October 2012

Warm me up "Ratatouille"

Autumn colours- down to our plates and palate to warm us up, even when eaten cold.
Recipes for 2 and a bit left for the week:
3 courgettes (Peeled along the length to make zebra stripes and sliced (1cm)
1 aubergine sliced and cut in cubes
5 tomatoes peeled and cut in pieces
1 red pepper sliced
1 green pepper sliced
5 garlic cloves peeled
2 onions peeled and sliced
Olive oil
4 hand full of fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon of Herbe de Provence
Salt
Pepper
1 pinch of sugar
Follow this order properly (the secret of this recipe).
With a knife make a cross on the bottom of the tomatoes and plunge them in boiling water for few seconds until you can see the skin lifting up and peel.
In a deep pan or Creuset dish, set on a medium heat, pour 4 tablespoons of olive oil, add the peppers and onions, salt and pepper and pinch of herbe de Provence, fry for 10 minutes or until "al dente" and set a side.
In the same dish, pour 4 more tablespoons of olive oil and fry the aubergine and courgettes with salt, pepper and pinch of herbe de provence. Fry until brown. (I did mine in 2 lots). Set a side.
In the same pan, pour more olive oil and fry the tomatoes with garlic cloves, salt, pepper, sugar, 1 pinch of herbe de Provence and the basil. Cook for 5 minutes.
Transfer everything back in the pan and cook for 1h30 (or longer) on the lowest heat with no lid and avoid stirring to much to prevent crushing.
Eat hot, warm or cold with ham, cold meat or fish.
Bon Appetit!