365 days of food July 6th Ratatouille

I love ratatouille - but I always forget to put it in the fridge.  This may sound crazy, but the fridge is usually full of stuff so it's quite convenient to leave it in its pot at the back of the stove   Three days later it's covered in mould, or begining to ferment - or both.  You can remove mould but you can't undo the bitterness of the fermentation - sour dough is one thing, sour ratatouille is another.

Ratatouille - courtesy of Google images

So, the best method - fry the aubergines in chunks or slices in olive oil, remove, then fry the courgette slices' then fry the onions until translucent and add the peppers, some salt and get them to soften.  Return the other veg to the pan and add either a tin of plum tomatoes, or some peeled and chopped fresh tomatoes (you don't have to peel them) or some roast tomatoes. Then cook very gently for about an hour with a lid - stir occasionally.  At some point in the process any of the following additional flavourings can be added: a couple of garlic cloves, squashed or sliced, a bay leaf, a couple of leaves of rosemary, some fresh parsley and, only at the end, fresh basil.   Or not.  Sometimes I just like to cook it with nothing more than salt and pepper and prhaps a pinch of sugar for the tomatoes.  Then cool it and eat the following day when the flavours have matured a bit.

I will be totally honest and say I have never eaten a ratatouille more delicious than my own - but this is because (a) I don't know anyone else who cooks it (b) I never see it on menus, and I probably wouldn't eat it out because there'd be something more exotic on the menu.

The deliciousness is a product of good veg, good oil and "mindful preparation" - when I've screwed up it's because I didn't pay proper attention to it. Or I panicked and added water.  Watery rat is NOT nice - don't do it.  Just stir it a lot more.

What I ate today
I had last night's stew - warmed up and even better, with some pilau rice and plain boiled broccoli.  "This is delicious broccoli" I was told - I felt happy that someone else could value a plain boiled vegetable.