My recipe for ratatouille

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For 2 persons

Ingredients:
Olive oil – you choose the quantity
4 fresh tomatoes
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 star anise, broken up
3 cloves
A teaspoon of coriander seeds
A tablespoon of dried thyme
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Worcester sauce
Tomato sauce
Tabasco
30ml vinegar (of your choice)
Grated lemon zest
2 medium-sized aubergines (or 1 large)
2 medium courgettes
3 sticks of celery
6-8 stoned black olives
Black pepper grinds
Chopped basil leaves – you choose the quantity


What to do:

Peel, de-seed and chop the fresh tomatoes.

Add olive oil to a large heavy casserole dish, and gently fry the chopped onion and garlic, cooking for at least 10 minutes, with no lid.

Add the 2 bay leaves, the broken star anise, the 3 cloves, the coriander seeds and the thyme to the casserole, at your own pace, during the frying.

Next add the chopped fresh and tinned tomatoes, with dashes of Worcester sauce, tomato sauce and Tabasco. Stir well and cook for 30 minutes, with a lid on.

Towards the end of that period add vinegar and grated lemon zest to the tomato mix, and stir well again.

Meanwhile, you can get on with cutting the aubergine, courgettes and celery into small cubes, trying to keep any dimension within ½ an inch (especially the celery, which benefits from being chopped finely). Keep the piles of three chopped vegetables separate.

In a frying pan, fry the three vegetables (aubergine, courgette and celery) in turn, for 5 minutes each, in olive oil.

As each is finished, add them to the tomato mix in the casserole. ALTERNATIVELY, pour them into a pre-heated slo-cooker and chuck the tomato mix in after them.

Add the chopped olives, some grinds of black pepper and give a good stir to the whole mix.

If cooking in the casserole, simmer gently for at least an hour.

If cooking in the slo-cooker, leave to cook slowly at low heat for at least two hours.

About 10 minutes from your estimated serving time, add chopped basil leaves.

At this point you can taste to adjust with extra Worcester sauce, Tabasco and ground pepper, as you see fit. Resist any temptation to add salt.


Spoon out on warmed plates, for your companion and you.

I recommend home-cooked ciabatta bread with this dish, and a conversation about the meaning of life.

John Vernon