Ratatoille

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  When I was in France I made sure to buy the best vegetables I could find!

  Ratatoille is a classic French recipe. Is easy, inexpensive to make and very healthy. You can eat as an antipasto, only dish or as a side dish for any kind of meat. I enjoy eating the Ratatoille in summer days with a good piece of pugliese bread and a nice glass of wine. Ratatoille is very well paired with red wines, but is also great with a rose or a light red such as Bardolino. The only hard thing about this dish, is doing the dishes. French recipes tend to use a lot of pans. That's one difference between Italian and French cooking. Italian cook for ten people and use one pan, the French cook for one person and use ten pans!
  

  • 2 eggplants, cut into cubes
    4 tomatoes, diced
    5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
    ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
    1/3 cup loosely packed, chopped fresh basil
    ¾ cup loosely packed, chopped flat-leaf parsley
    2 white onions, thinly sliced
    3 red or yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
    3 zucchini, cut in cubes
    1/3 cup dry white wine
    Salt & Pepper
    
    
    
    
    In a large saucepan, cook the tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, basil, and parsley, uncovered, over medium heat.
    In a large skillet, sauté the onions and bell peppers in a small amount of olive oil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very lightly browned. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the browned vegetables to the tomato mixture.
    
    

    In another frying pan, sautè the eggplants.

    In another one the Zucchini. 

    

    When all the vegetables are brown (better if is crispy), transfer all to the tomato mixture, put the fire on high and add the wine and cook for 5 minutes. After that add the herbs, salt & pepper.