Saturday, August 25, 2007

Ratatouille - the recipe

I haven't got a chance to watch this movie... :( Today, I supposed to take my son to watched it but he felt asleep just before I reached the cinema. My husband did not want to wake him up so we just drove around instead to let him sleep at least an hour. By the time he woke up, it was time for dinner already and we had to head back home..hiks..hiks..
I hope tomorrow I will be able to watch Ratatouille with my son. I will write a review after that. In the mean time, I give you this recipe first to let you try if you can cook this traditional French vegetable dish. It's taken from my favorite cooking book, Cooking - a commonsense guide.
It's fairly simple actually.

Ingredients:

250 g eggplant, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
250 g zucchini, thickly sliced
2 onions, cut in wedges
1 red capsicum, cubed
1 green capsicum, cubed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500 g ripe tomatoes, chopped

To make:
  1. Sprinkle the eggplant liberally with salt and leave for 20 minutes (this draws the bitterness from the eggplant). Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
  2. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large heavy-based pan. Lightly brown the eggplant and zucchini in batches. Drain well.
  3. Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the onion over low heat for 3 minutes, or until golden.
  4. Add the capsicum and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender but not browned.
  5. Add the garlic and tomato and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
  6. Stir in the eggplant and zucchini. Simmer for 15-20 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce.
  7. Season to taste.
Voilà! C'est votre ratatouille. Bon appétit! Oh, don't forget to watch this movie, ok? I have read other people's reviews and they gave thumbs up for this movie.