I have been making Ratatouille forever but never thought to put the recipe down in print. I grow large numbers of beautiful banana egg plant and this year I remembered ratatouille as a good vegetable dish to have in the fridge for a quick, healthy side dish or heated up and with eggs cracked into it makes a fabulous shakshuka.

This is the best version that I have made, it isn’t runny, each of the vegetables being cooked separately in a large fry pan and only combined at the end. It also looks good.

It is another dish that improves with time and also freezes well so can be a great emergency dish or made early for a party.

Ingredients

  • 5 or 6 lady finger eggplant, cut into 1 cm cubes
  • Salt
  • Olive oil
  • 3 zucchini cut into 1 cm cubes (about the same quantity as the egg plant)
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 capsicum, cut into 1.5 cm pieces
  • 5 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 5 large tomatoes cut into chunks or a 2 tins of crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tbs tomato paste
  • 2 tsp thyme, plus more for serving
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • 3 tbs fresh basil chopped

Method

  1. Place the chopped egg plant into a steel bowl and sprinkle with salt, leave to rest for about 10 minutes then cover with boiling water and leave for about 20 minutes. Drain well
  2. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pan and add the eggplant, cook until soft and starting to brown. Return to bowl till later.
  3. Add the zucchini to the pan with a little more oil and cook, until starting to soften, add a little salt and remove to a separate plate.
  4. Cook the onion and capsicum until softening, for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic. Continue cooking slowly until warm through but not browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, sugar, chilli flakes and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  5. Cook gently until the tomatoes a sauce has formed, return the cooked eggplant to the pan and continue to simmer uncovered until the egg plant has softened.
  6. Add the cooked zucchini and cook until just warmed through.
  7. Adjust seasoning.
  8. To serve, sprinkle with fresh herbs and drizzle with a little olive oil.