Ratatouille confite

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 4 people, you will need:

• 1 2 egg-plants or aubergine
• 2 3 courgettes
• 3 2 greens pepper
• 4 1 onion
• 5 4 tomatoes
• 6 10 tablespoons olive oil
• 7 3 sprigs parsley
• 8 3 sprigs thyme
• 9 3 leaves sage
• 10 Salt
• 11 Pepper
• Total weight: 2,375 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
50 min.	1 hour 50 min.	2 hours 40 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Wash, peel and cut 2 egg-plants or aubergine into small pieces . Set aside.
2	Prepare 3 courgettes, cut into small pieces. Set aside.
3	Wash, peel and cut 2 greens pepper into small pieces . Set aside.
4	Wash 4 tomatoes, remove and discard the hard green stalk end, then cut in 2. Prepare 1 onion. Set aside.
5	Put 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large pan on medium heat.
6	When oil is hot, add aubergine, salt, pepper and cook 4-5 minutes. You will see that it really soaks up the olive oil like a sponge, but don't add any more.
7	Then put aubergine in a strainer and leave to drain.
8	In the same pan, without cleaning it, pour 2 more tablespoons olive oil and cook courgette pieces in the same way for 3-4 minutes. Drain these in a strainer too.
9	Do the same thing with peppers.
10	Still using the same pan, pour in 3 tablespoons olive oil. When oil is hot, add onion, 3 sprigs parsley, 3 sprigs thyme, 3 leaves sage, salt, pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes.
11	Put tomato halves in the pan cut side down, cover and cook for 2 minutes.
12	Turn tomatoes over, and cook covered for 2 more minutes.
13	Remove tomatoes onto a plate, and you've got a pan full of flavours and herbs.
14	Put in all the vegetables except tomatoes, turn heat down to lowest, cover and leave to cook for at least one hour.
15	After this time, add tomatoes without skins, cover and leave to cook 30 minutes longer. Then remove and discard herbs, and mix well.
16	Check seasoning, put the pan in the centre of the table, and serve your guests directly onto their plates. you can also serve pilaf rice with it.

Remarks

For herbs, use what you have to hand and that you like, it's a quite versatile recipe. Similarly, you can add 1 or 2 garlic cloves en chemise.

---