I'm experiencing a rediscovery of my Jamie Oliver books this past week. My friend Jayne has raved about his food revolution book. It seems her family cannot get enough of his recipes, so I decided to pull out one of my old Jamie books and get inspired. My current obsession is Jamie's Dinners. I want to make nearly every recipe in there and I'm not quite sure why I haven't!
Anyway, it was Jamie who assisted my latest ratatouille creation last weekend. I'd really been craving this dish and so wanted to make sure it wasn't a let down when I made it. Not to mention I was serving it to our wonderful neighbors for dinner. As it was a fiercely hot weekend here in the northeast, I opted to cook the whole recipe on the grill. I just used my roasting tin as my pan and my grill as an oven. It all worked out just fine. You can, of course, use your oven at 375°F/ 190°C.
Ratatouille
(loosely based on Jamie's Dinners: Grilled and Tray Baked ratatouille with white fish)
Serves 6
Ingredients
3 red peppers, chopped into bitesized pieces
1 red onion, halved and sliced
2 medium eggplants, chopped into bitesized chunks
6 zucchini and or summer squash, chopped into bitesized chunks
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
handful of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces1 large (1lb 12oz/ 800g) can of whole tomatoes, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat the grill on medium
- Heat the roasting pan on the grill and add some olive oil
- Add the onion and leave to cook for approx 10 mins, stirring once
- Add the eggplants, zucchini, garlic and peppers.
- Cook for approx 6 minutes, stirring a few times
- Add the tomatoes, half the basil, bay leaves, red wine vinegar and some pepper
- Reduce the grill to low and cook for approx 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Serve with the remaining basil tossed on top
Enjoy!
