No, it’s not the latest Pixar animation I am referring to. I am talking about this classic French dish from the Provence. However, about the movie Ratatouille, I think it’s gonna be a hit at the cinemas! Young and old would love it – it applies to the ediable Ratatouille too!

I love Ratatouille, either as a side dish or as a meal on its own. Ratatouille is a stew vegetable dish. So, it is very important to get the freshest produce, preferably organic. Not to forget, a good cocotte like Le Creuset never fails to make a good pot of Ratatouille. Ratatouille is such a special dish that you can prepare and eat in any seasons. I usually make a big portion of Ratatouille and keep it for a day or two. It tastes even better the next day!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Tomatoes, 8 (I use 2 cans of plum tomatoes. Get the best quality of canned plum tomatoes possible)
Onions, 3
Peppers, 2
Eggplant/Aubergine, 1
Courgettes, 2
Potatoes, 4
Garlic clove, 3
Olive oil, some
Salt and pepper, to taste
Tomato puree, 1 tbsp
Bay leaves, 2
Herbes de Provence, some

Method: (classic method is to cook each vegetable seperately, quite time consuming)

1. Use a cocotte if you have one, if not a normal cooking pot. Drizzle some olive oil (about 4 tbsp).
2. Chop the onions and put them into the pot and cook them under medium heat.
3. The bay leave goes in the same time as onions.
4. Chop the garlic and put them into the pot.
5. Chop the potatoes. Add them when the onions start to turn soft. Stir and cook for 5 mins.
6. Followed by chopped peppers. Stir and mix well.
7. Final two vegetables – courgette and aubergine. Chop and throw them in and stir in well.
8. Allow all the vegetables to cook for about 10-15 mins.
9. Start to season with salt and pepper. Then, add some Herbes de Provence. Mix well.
10. Add the tomato puree and plum tomatoes.
11. Keep stirring until all of the ingredients are well mixed.
12. Once everything is merged together, turn the heat to low and put the lid on.
13. Cook under low heat for about 1 hour.

Voila! Your Ratatouille is ready to be served. You can either serve ratatouille with rice, bread, steak, chicken or have it on its own. I had my ratatouille with Conchiglie (shells pasta). I added mushroom in my Ratatouille too, not the traditional way but hey, it still tastes good.

Note 1: Slice aubergines in lengthways into 4 slices, rub with salt and put them in the colander and leave to drain for about 3o minutes. This is to remove some of the water and the bitterness from the aubergines.

Note 2: You can always fine-tune the recipe according to your own taste once you’ve made your first Ratatouille with some hands-on experience. Just remember, cooking is an art and optimal creativity would perfect the dish!