POLYTUNNEL RATATOUILLE
Preparation 10 minutes Cooking 1 hour 40 minutes Serves 4-6
The luxury of high summer is to pick baskets of aubergines, peppers and courgettes and it is the time for that most delicious of dishes, ratatouille. It’s really at its nicest eaten cold the next day and irresistible when dipped into with a slice of bread. If you have a garden, full-sized onions when green are the most brilliant ingredient – they are super-sweet and make every dish
2 tasty. green onions extra-virgin olive oil knob of butter 4 garlic cloves, crushed pinch of white sugar 2 courgettes 2 peppers 2 aubergines 1 tbsp oregano leaves 1
Roughly chop the white part of the green onions. Heat a splash of oil and the butter in a pan and gently fry the onion and garlic with salt, freshly ground black pepper and the sugar until translucent. Slice the courgettes, peppers and aubergines into just larger than walnutsized pieces. Add to the cooked onions with a little more olive oil and the oregano leaves. Cover and cook as slowly as possible for 1½ hours, making sure there is enough oil to prevent the vegetables from catching on the bottom of the pan. On no account let tomatoes go anywhere near this dish – they turn it into a soggy, acid mess. When the ratatouille is ready, finish with a drizzle of olive oil.