Ratatouille: From the Blooming Kitchen Garden

We had an abundance of eggplant, zucchini, and green peppers this weekend...so I improvised a recipe for a kettle of ratatouille. This is delicious as a side dish, over rice or pasta, lightly chilled as a savoury spread for garlic toast, and more - and it freezes beautifully.

Ratatouille

• 1-2 eggplant, cubed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 zucchini, cubed
• 3 bell peppers, diced
• 4 tomatoes, roughly chopped and with juices
• 2 large cloves garlic minced (or more, to taste)
• Approx 1/3 c olive oil

In a large, heavy bottomed pan sauté the onions in the olive oil until golden. Add the garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Add zucchini, peppers, and eggplant. Top with the crushed tomatoes. Cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes of so after 20 minutes. (The vegetables should be juicy enough to create a bit of liquid, but if it seems dry add a bit of tomato juice or vegetable broth). At the end of the hour, the vegetables should have melded into a luscious melange.

Taste before seasoning - I usually use a bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, but rosemary and Herbes de Provence also lend a lovely note.