Ratatouille

Recipe and photo from https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ratatouille

This is a classic French vegetarian dish with four different vegetables, making it a super healthy meal!

This dish has loads of opportunities to get hands on and learn new skills. Make it your own by adding different spices, chickpeas, rice or another carbohydrate.

Skills Check

Follow a recipe; follow food safety & hygiene rules; tidy away; use measuring spoons; chop using bridge/claw technique safely; garnish and decorate.

Equipment

Knife, Chopping Board, Large Bowls, Saucepan, Wooden Spoon, Plate, Garlic Crusher, Measuring Spoons.

Ingredients (serves 4, or 8 as a taster):

• 2 large aubergines
• 4 small courgettes
• 2 red or yellow peppers
• 4 large ripe tomatoes
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• small bunch basil
• 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar

Method

1. Cut 2 large aubergines in half lengthways. Place them on the board, cut side down, slice in half lengthways again and then across into 1.5cm chunks. Cut the ends off 4 small courgettes, then across into 1.5cm slices.
2. Cut 2 peppers into bite-size chunks using the bridge/claw technique.
3. Score a small cross on the base of each of 4 large ripe tomatoes, then put them into a heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over, leave for 20 seconds, then remove. Pour the water away, replace the tomatoes and cover with cold water. Leave to cool, then peel the skin away.
4. Quarter the tomatoes, scrape away the seeds with a spoon, then roughly chop the flesh.
5. Set a pan over medium heat and when hot, pour in 2 tbsp olive oil. Brown the aubergines for 5 mins on each side until the pieces are soft. Set them aside.
6. Fry the courgettes in another tbsp oil for 5 mins, until golden on both sides. Repeat with the peppers. Don’t overcook the vegetables at this stage.
7. Tear up the leaves from the bunch of basil and set aside. Cook 1 thinly sliced medium onion in the pan for 5 minutes. Add 3 crushed garlic cloves and fry for a further minute. Stir in 1 tbsp red wine vinegar and 1 tsp sugar, then tip in the tomatoes and half the basil.
8. Return the vegetables to the pan with some salt and pepper and cook for 5 mins. Serve with basil.

So thinking about ratatouille ...

Vegetables are so good for us! Low in fat, sugar and calories and high in vitamins and minerals.
Tomatoes contain plenty of vitamins and minerals. They also contain lycopene, an antioxidant which can help protect us against certain diseases.
Herbs are healthy seasoning we can add to food for flavour. Many herbs are good sources of antioxidants; compounds which have been found to be extremely beneficial to health.

Nutritional Information

per serving (1/4 dish)
% of an adult's reference intake
Typical values per 100g: Energy 280kJ / 67kcal

Notes

A traffic light system is used on nutrition labels to make it easier to see which foods and drinks are lower in calories, fat, sugar and salt. Try and choose more ‘greens’ and ‘ambers’ and fewer ‘reds’, and stick to smaller portions of ‘reds’.

Just because a recipe or a food has a red traffic light doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. Understanding why a food or recipe might have a red light can be helpful. For example oily fish is high in total fat and so any recipe containing oily fish is likely to be ‘red’ for fat. But it is recommended that we eat oily fish at least once a week because the type of fat it contains is beneficial for our health.

% Reference Intakes are also shown. Reference Intakes are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required for a healthy diet (based on an average-sized woman doing an average amount of physical activity). Most children will require less than these Reference Intakes. The contribution of one serving of a food or drink to the Reference Intake for each nutrient is expressed as a percentage.