In the BOSH! kitchen, we find simple ratatouille to be a little boring, so we wanted to make something truly outstanding. This Mediterranean-flavoured dish tastes as good as it looks.
Timings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Serves
Four
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion
- 650g cherry tomatoes
- 12 large or 25 small garlic cloves
- 15g fresh parsley
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground fennel
- ½ tsp Italian herbs
- 100ml olive oil
- 1 aubergine
- 1 courgette
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 300g basmati rice
- 4-5 medium tomatoes
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Peel, halve and slice the onion, halve the cherry tomatoes, peel and slice the garlic and pick the parsley leaves and set them to one side. Add the onion, tomatoes, garlic, parsley stems, cinnamon, fennel, Italian herbs, ½ tsp each of salt and pepper and olive oil to the roasting dish and gently stir everything together. Put the dish in the oven and roast for 50 minutes.Meanwhile, trim the aubergine and courgette and cut into 3-4mm rounds. Cut the medium tomatoes into 5mm thick slices. Remove the dish from the oven and increase the temperature to 240C/220C fan/gas mark 9. Add the stock cube, tomato puree and 600ml boiling water to a jug and stir until the stock has dissolved.Sprinkle the rice evenly over the roasting dish. Gently pour in the stock to cover the rice. Arrange the aubergine, courgette and tomato slices over the rice in sequence, working in a spiral from the outside to the middle, until the rice is covered. Season with salt and pepper, seal the dish with tin foil, and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.Take the dish out of the oven and carefully remove the foil (watch out for steam). Turn the grill to max and put the dish underneath. Grill for 10-15 minutes until the top has turned golden and lightly crispy. Garnish with the parsley leaves. Spoon into serving dishes and serve immediately with a simple green salad.Recipe from BOSH! on a Budget by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby (HarperCollins, £16.99). Order you copy from The Telegraph Bookshop.
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