ratatouille

last night, while cooking the chicken and the chicory, i made some ratatouille. so now I have on the desk in front of me a box full of leftover roast chicken, ratatouille, braised chicory and some lettuce - and i am desperately trying not to eat it all.

10.00am i nibble on some lettuce
10.20am the chicory is gone
11.30am there is nothing left

the recipe for ratatouille is pinched from molly wizenberg’s book (http://www.orangette.blogspot.com/) but i vary the quantities as i can’t be bothered to measure anything out – this is just an attempt to cook the veg before they go off.

RATATOUILLE
for two

1 aubergine
1 red onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 courgettes
2 peppers, mine were one green and one red
tin of chopped tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes if they are nice and ripe, which they rarely are out of season)
olive oil
seasoning
bunch of fresh basil, chopped

preheat the oven to 200C.

slice the aubergine into rounds around 2 cm thick. spread on a baking sheet and brush with oil on both sides. season and bake in the hot oven for half an hour, turning once. remove, leave to cool and cut into cubes of about 2cm..

in a saucepan, fry the courgettes sliced into rounds 2cm thick in hot oil until browned. probably takes 10 minutes or so. you want them to colour and cook a little, otherwise they end up being too watery. remove from the pan, keeping as much oil behind as possible. add the red onion, finely sliced, and cook on gentle heat (do not brown) for about 5 minutes or until soft. add the garlic and chopped peppers and saute for another 7-8 minutes. return the aubergine and courgette to the pan, add the tin of chopped tomatoes and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.

check the seasoning and, if satisfied, turn off the heat and stir in the basil. eat lukewarm or, as i did, cold. i think it would be nice with some toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top, or maybe some grated parmesan. also, a poached eggs oozing runny yolk into the vegetables would be lovely.