Ratatouille and Cod

Ratatouille

Eldest Son doesn't eat zucchini except when it's cooked in a Ratatouille. Funny, isn't it? Now of course it is famous after Disney made a cartoon of it, but I serve mine the traditional Southern French way, nothing fancy like in the film. Cod was on offer at Esselunga the other day so I pan-grilled it in olive oil and herbs (e.g. dill, basilic, aniseed, thym, parsley...) and served it with some ratatouille.

Ratatouille :

Olive Oil

Garlic (lots of it)

Onion

Zucchini

Aubergine

Red Peppers

Tomatoes

Tomato Sauce or Purée

Herbes de Provence or just Basilic and Thym

Salt and Pepper

Basically one browns the diced garlic and sliced onion in a good amount of olive oil till fragrant before adding in the peppers, aubergine, tomatoes and zucchini in this order to have them browned. The size of the vegetables is as you wish, some like it in rounds, some in chunks and yet others in cubes.

Then add in the herbs and adjust the olive oil if necessary. I like to add in some tomato sauce or purée to obtain a wetter and thicker sauce but that only once the vegetables have been browned. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The cuisson of the vegetables is rather personal for a ratatouille though in general they, for once, taste better rather well-cooked. I usually cover the pot and cook them for about 20 to 35 minutes on a low fire. The ratatouille can be eaten hot or cold, in fact it goes rather well served cold the next day on a hot baguette.