In Provence, when the sun burns, we taste a delicious ratatouille.
Ratatolha in Occitan, it’s stirring, stirring and it’s a safe bet that this name meant something other than this delicious dish of stewed vegetables that would be of Nice origin! A name not very pretty, which was shortened in “rata” to designate many stews … Anyway, it concentrates all the vegetables growing in our region.
For 4 people: 2 zucchini (500 g), 1 big aubergine (300 g), 2 peppers (red or green), 6 ripe tomatoes, 1 big onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 branches of thyme, 1 leaf of dried laurel, 1 piece of sugar, salt, pepper, olive oil.
Wash the zucchini and eggplant, cut off their ends and cut them in from 1 cm. Wash peppers, cut their peduncle, remove seeds and white membranes and cut in 1m. Remove the peduncle from the tomatoes, cut them in half, remove the seeds and cut the tomatoes into large pieces. Peel the onion and chop it finely.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole and brown the onion. Add the eggplant and peppers and brown for 7 minutes. Add the zucchini, tomatoes, garlic cloves in the shirt, thyme, bay leaf and sugar. Salt, cover and let simmer over very low heat for 1 hour, stirring frequently.
At the end of this time, try to correct the seasoning if necessary. The vegetables have then made more or less juice, let the cooking juices evaporate while continuing cooking uncovered (usually 30 minutes). Serve hot, warm or cold.
