Ratatouille, Provencal-style vegetables

Mediterranean cuisine is full of great vegetable dishes, rich in colors and aromas.

Ratatouille is one of these great dishes and I, I confess, love it very much.
It certainly requires some patience and attention in its preparation.

But the result is worth the effort!

I prepare it like this, however .... mHands on: this is a traditional recipe and there are many versions.
So do not be surprised if, what I present here, is not the one you ate last summer in that delightful little restaurant overlooking the sea, in Provence!

Whatever the version, this dish in any case has its own particular characteristic: the vegetables that compose it are first sautéed separately, one by one, to maintain their characteristic flavor, and then kept aside.

Only at the end will they be added to a tomato base and cooked briefly to arrive at the final result in an extraordinary meeting of flavors and aromas.

Let's arm ourselves with patience and, starting as always with the ingredients, let's start cooking!

Ingredients:

Preparation:

First of all, check that you have all the necessary ingredients ready and at hand.

Clean and chop the aubergines into large cubes and salt them putting them to drain with a weight in order to make them lose excess moisture.

Clean and dice the courgettes and peppers as well.

Chop the onion and coarsely chop the garlic.

Blanch and peel the tomatoes and, for now, keep them aside: they will serve, with the garlic and onion, to prepare the final sauce!

Rinse the aubergines from the salt, dry them very well with kitchen paper (a cloth would be better but ... cleaning it afterwards is a challenge!), fry them in extra virgin olive oil in the pan that will be used throughout the preparation and drain them on kitchen paper.

In the same pot and in the same oil, fry the courgettes and then the peppers, drain them on kitchen paper and set them aside.

Still in the same pot, sauté the onion and the garlic;
if needed, add more oil.

Cut the tomatoes, previously blanched and peeled, into fillets and add them to the onion making them flavor.

Now we are approaching the final steps:
continue cooking by adding the bay leaf and thyme and cook for a few minutes.

Remove the aromas from the sauce and add the fried vegetables set aside.

Leave to flavor for a few minutes, just enough to blend the flavors without erasing their identity.

Season with salt and pepper.
Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the chopped basil and vinegar that will help complete the final taste.

Our ratatouille is ready.

Buon appetito!

ADVICES AND NOTES:

• Recipe, text only: to print or download.
• These vegetables, should they ever be left over, are also excellent the next day, served both hot and cold.
• Ratatouille can be served as a main dish, as an appetizer and also as a side dish: in practice it always looks good on the table!
• Related articles: Peperoni all'Agro, Sweet and sour zucchini, Sautéed vegetables in sweet and sour sauce with barzotte eggs 

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