So this is basically just ratatouille, but it takes less attention (because you roast the vegies in the oven) and it tastes better (because you roast the vegies in the oven). The perfect day for this would be a cool day during the summer, just after you’ve been to the farmer’s market and got a pile of really gorgeous high summer vegies. Uh huh. Or you could do like I did, and make it on a pretty warm day and totally overheat your kitchen. Whatevs, it’s good enough to be worth it.
So, here’s how it goes. First, chop the following into bite-sized chunks:
- 1 large eggplant
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2 capsicums (1 red, 1 green)
- 1 large or 2 small onions
Put them in a big roasting pan, then add:
- a whole head of garlic, broken into cloves and skinned
- about a tablespoon of dried oregano
- a teaspoon of dried pepper flakes
- pepper and salt
- lots of olive oil
Mix it all up with your hands. It’ll look like this:
Bung it in the oven at around 180C/350F. Leave it there for, oh, and hour or so. Check it every so often and turn everything over with a spatula once or twice. Basically you want everything to be soft right through, and browning in places.
When it gets to that point, throw in a jar of passata (Italian tomato sauce), or a can of crushed or diced tomatoes, whatever you’ve got. I added a punnet of fresh cherry tomatoes, too, because I had them handy. Basically, a pile of tomatoey goodness is what you want here, and then back in the oven it goes.
This is the point where I put a pot of water on to boil and cooked some linguine, so I guess it was about another fifteen minutes til we called it done. I strained the linguine and tossed it with some olive oil, then took the ratatouille out of the oven and tasted it. It needed more salt, and the secret ingredient: a good slosh of balsamic vinegar, mixed through it all with a bit more olive oil right at the end.
Yup, there’s olive oil all through this thing. That’s what makes it amazing. That and the roasted oven-y goodness. And the parmesan cheese on top.
