Ratatouille

We returned home to be greeted by the largest courgette ever on the allotment. (Seriously, it was about a foot long). This is probably not the world's most authentic recipe for ratatouille, but it did have the benefit of using up about a third of the monster...

Makes lots and lots. We ate this with meatballs and rice, and I'll probably also puree some of the leftovers to make a pizza topping.

You'll need:

1 medium aubergine, cubed
1 large onion, finely sliced
a couple of cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 monster courgette, cubed
1 red or yellow pepper, sliced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of tomato puree
lots of black pepper and Mediterranean herbs
2 bay leaves

Sling the onion and garlic into a frying pan, and add a large slosh of olive oil. Fry until they've turned translucent. Add the aubergine, and fry until it's softened. It absorbs a lot of olive oil, so you may need to add another large dollop.

Throw in the courgette and pepper, and fry for a couple of minutes until they too have softened. Tip in a tin of chopped tomatoes, another tin full of water, and the tomato puree. Season with a good sprinkling of dried Mediterranean herbs (think oregano, thyme etc), and a couple of bay leaves. Bring the sauce to the boil, then leave to simmer for a good 30-40 minutes - the longer the better.