R is for Ratatouille

French food alphabet advent calendar

With less than a week to go, I can’t believe how quickly advent is rushing by and I hope you are more organised for Christmas than I am! Here is the letter R for my French Food Alphabet Advent Calendar series - a foodie’s countdown to Christmas Day sharing posts including French regional specialities, my personal favourite foods, and some new recipes. I hope you are enjoying your virtual tastings.

It’s the 18^th December and R is for Ratatouille.

This is one of my favourite summer recipes when the potager is generously giving and the kitchen often groaning under the weight of produce.

Ingredients

2 onions, diced

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

4 tablespoons of olive oil

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 large peppers (red if possible), diced

2 large courgettes (zucchini) diced

1 medium aubergine, diced

2 tablespoons tomato purée

4 tomatoes, chopped

Soften the onions and thyme in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes, without letting them colour. Add the garlic, courgettes, peppers, aubergine, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato purée, cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. This is delicious as the vegetable accompaniment to any meat dish, but if like me you make it in bulk it will freeze too. I then use it as a summer flavoured soup in the winter.

Don’t forget to pop back tomorrow for the letter S, a celebration platter. If you have missed my previous advent posts you can catch up by clicking on the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P and Q.