Ratatouille

Wonderful meals start with wonderful ingredients, as we start the change of the season this classic French dish seemed a great way of using the harvest of Tomatoes, Aubergines and Courgettes.

As Julia Child put it "The perfumes of Provence fill your kitchen" and indeed they do. It's amazing how sometimes the sum total of the ingredients can be greater than the individual parts, absolutely the case with this dish

Start by slicing your Aubergines and Courgettes and put them in a Sieve over a bowl and Salt well using Rock Salt to draw out the moisture. This will take about an hour.

Meanwhile skin some tomatoes, chop and add them to a roasting tin.

Take a Red Onion chop into quarters and slice an ordinary onion into half moon shapes and fry at a very high heat in Olive Oil, now add them to the Roasting tin.

Slice a Red Pepper add to the roasting tin along with some fresh Rosemary, Chopped Basil and Parsley stalks, some dried Herb de Provence and a little Oregano.

Add the courgettes and Aubergine after drying them on some kitchen towel and cover with a generous glug of Olive Oil

Now using your hands mix everything together making sure everything has a coating of the precious Olive Oil and put in a pre heated oven at 200C for one hour

When you take it out the oven, give it a good stir with all the juices it is scrumptious. You can serve it as it is as a main course or with Grilled meats or cold the next day

It's sublime, and Roasting as opposed to stewing gives more flavour and helps the vegetables keep their shape. I sprinkle some chopped fresh Parsley and Basil leaves over the finished dish. I had mine topped with a char grilled Filet steak

A delicious way to greet Autumn.