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| NEIL CORDER (c) |
I've always loved ratatouille. I think it has something to do with feeling slightly bohemian eating it in Cape Town suburbia during the Seventies, knowing that not everyone's parents had an art studio at the back of the house or wore Indian jewellery to PTA meetings. It just resonates of Provençal cicada's and Deux Chevauxs whizzing along Poplar-lined country lanes. Even now when I make it, it feels faintly boheme. Just a little bit Elizabeth David. Funny how food can do that for one.
I grew up with Elizabeth David on the kitchen bookshelves and my mother rather studiously followed her recipe for ratatouille. In those days one had to buy olive oil from Barnes Pharmacy and I think we only had garlic flakes, not fresh garlic. Even courgettes or 'baby marrows' as we called them were wildly exotic.
I've always enjoyed Elizabeth's writing, often reading her books as one would a novel. I'm lucky enough to own a first edition of her 'Book of Mediterranean Food' and always look out for any of her books at second hand bookshops. I used to live in Chelsea just around the corner from her (she died in 1992) and for one shining French holiday in the Vaucluse, I happily cooked and ate my way through her 'French Provincial Cooking' (along with Richard Olney's 'Simple French Food'). Happy Days! Our little gite's kitchen would have satisfied any fermiere and I shopped in the local markets and channelled Elizabeth a lot.
It is amazing how she was such a pioneer for her time and how finely observed and authentic her recipes are. An 'Omelette and a Glass of Wine' is one of my favourite 'foody' books and I also love Elizabeth David's Christmas, which was compiled by Jill Norman after she found a big file that Elizabeth was getting ready to publish, just before she died. It's almost like a journal of all her Christmas's past, beautifully written and practical. I've used it extensively. Artemis Cooper's biograghy "Writing at the Kitchen Table" paints a picture of a complex woman and not always a happy one. I suppose she was what Malcom Gladwell would have called an outlier. A remarkably talented woman who forever changed middle class English eating habits.
I like to make my ratatouille with whole baby courgettes and cherry tomatoes as it just seems to give it a nicer texture and more colour. We particularly like ratatouille with lamb but we're happy to eat it just on it's own. It's especially good eaten the day after it's been made when all the flavours have melded together and it looks like a glossy Persian carpet.
It's good hot or cold, dressed up or down, as an accompaniment or side, for a dinner party or luncheon and never fails to please.
For added ratatouille reading pleasure: This excellent article by Felicity Cloake on how to perfect ratatouille and a brilliant retrospective of Elizabeth David by Rachel Cooke of the Guardian.
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| NEIL CORDER (c) |
Ratatouille
Serves 4
Ingredients
10 small baby courgettes, whole
1 tin Cirio whole cherry tomatoes
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 red onion
1 large brinjal, diced into 1cm cubes (I never bother to salt them anymore)
Lots of olive oil
3 large bulbs garlic
Thyme and basil
Salt and pepper
Method
- Cut onion into slivers and fry gently with the garlic in a good couple of tablespoons of olive oil
- Add peppers and thyme and soften
- Add brinjal and cook for about 10 mins. Add more olive oil if needed. The idea is to slowly simmer the veg in the olive oil and tomato juices
- Add the tomatoes and then pop in the whole courgettes
- Cook slowly over a low heat with the lid on for at least 45 minutes, until everything is completely cooked but still whole. Avoid mush.
- Season properly and tear some basil leaves over the top for garnish and a pop of colour.
Sit on the terrace and teleport yourself to Haute Provence.
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