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Towards the end of the growing season, as the bounty starts to pile up, I reach for one recipe time and time again. There you have it! A classic recipe for Ratatouille which everyone can cook.These jars may not have survived beyond a week. French, Argentinian or Australian, this wine is a great match for strong, deep savoury dishes, and has enough body and power to deal with all that herby, vinegary tomato flavour and the umami depth of the soft vegetables. As such, you’ll need a good savoury wine which can stand up to the strong flavours, and which can be enjoyed at length as you slowly enjoy this rustic dish.įor us, the best match for ratatouille is a good Shiraz. Pairing with ratatouille is reasonably easy - you have all that lovely, soft vegetable flavour, sitting in a slightly acidic tomato and vinegar base. Simple, hearty and delicious.Īny good French restaurant will serve this type of ratatouille day in day out, and as anyone who has eaten in France will tell you, the table wine comes thick and fast with this sort of simple, homely food. Season if necessary, and serve hot with some crusty bread.
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Cover the pan and simmer for a good half hour, and add the zest of one lemon and the basil leaves. Mix it all well, and smash the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon so they break down and add themselves to the mix. Then add your tinned and fresh tomatoes, along with the rest of the vegetables you fried earlier, and give it all a good stir along with some salt and pepper, and your balsamic vinegar. Put the onion, garlic and basil stalks into the same casserole dish, and lightly fry for about fifteen minutes. Take them out when golden, and put them into a separate bowl. Put two tablespoons of oil into a large casserole dish, and then lightly fry all of your aubergines, courgettes and peppers for about five minutes, until nicely softened. Take your tinned tomatoes, and break these up a bit, too. Take the leaves off your basil, then chop up the stalks. Chop the onions into wedges, slice up your garlic, chop your aubergines and courgettes, take all the seeds out of the peppers and chop those up to. This is a chunky, hearty mix, so don’t be too precise or slice to finely. You’ve got to prep all of your vegetables. Three yellow or red peppers - whichever you prefer.It’s a classic, and one which everyone can cook and add their own twist to. This is a dish that warms the heart, brings back memories of simpler times, and works either as a centrepiece or as an accompaniment to many different meals. One dish that came up time and time again was Ratatouille - that great, French stew of slow cooked vegetables that you can find at every bistro in France, and which every French grandmother can throw together with her eyes shut. Dishes associated with peasant cooking, with small, rustic local eateries and grandmother’s kitchens. The people interviewed were all culinary masters, people who’d tasted the great and exotic dishes of the earth… and yet, their choices were all surprisingly humble, simple dishes. A few years ago, I was reading a book about what the great chefs of the world would choose as their ‘last supper’ - that is, the one food they’d crave before they headed to the great kitchen in the sky.