Ratatouille & Coucous
This one is a classic in French summer tables. The ratatouille is a full veggy dish, very easy to make and really delicious. For the kids it is fantastic, as it has everything parents would like them to eat, but without the fuss of eating vegetables.
There are many ways of serving the Ratatouille, but at home we prefer to serve it with some couscous, as it is just a perfect match of flavours and colours. It does take some time to prepare it, so start preparing everything about 2 hours before eating time.
Here we go:
Ingredients (Serving 4):
4 tomatos
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
0.5 red bell pepper
3 garlic cloves
1 onion
olive oil
salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, fresh basil
Preparation:
1- Start cleaning all the vegetables, and then peal the zucchini and the tomato. For the tomato, I put them a couple of minutes in the microwave to make it easier.
2- Then finely cut the onions and garlic, and the other vegetables in cube of approx 1 or 2 cm.
3- In a large pan, add the oil followed by the onions and garlic. Cook until well glazed. Then add the eggplant cubes and cook for 10 min.
4- Add the zucchini and pepper cubes and cook for another 5 min.
5- add the tomatoes and cover the pan. Cook for 30 min at medium heat. Then remove the cover and let simmering for about 1 hour. Add the salt, pepper and herbs. Stir from time to time to make sure that it is not too dry. If it is the case, add a bit of water and lower the temperature.
6 - Once the ratatouille is ready, prepare the couscous by adding approx 300 gr couscous in a bowl and pouring hot water and butter as instructed. A nice detail is to add some broth to give a bit of spark.
Serve hot adding the fresh basil at the very end. It goes very well with red wine or red craft beer.
