Ratatouille with Olives

Name: Ratatouille with Olives (Ratatouille aux olives)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: salt, pepper; 2 large tomatoes, skinned and cut in pieces; 1 small head of celery, sliced into crescents; 6 tbsp olive oil; 3 long green peppers, cut into strips; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; 2 aubergines; 2 onions, chopped; 60 g stoned black olives; small bunch flat parsley, coarsely chopped; 2 bay leaves; flour; 3-4 sprigs of thyme; 2 pinches of sugar

Ratatouille aux olives

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Sud de France

By Caroline Conran

Published 2012

About

This version of ratatouille is from the Hérault. It has no courgettes, replacing them with celery. This changes the character, making it fresh and crunchy instead of mushy. By also adding black olives, it has a strength of flavour it sometimes lacks. If you skip the salting of the aubergines, which some cooks do, it adds a peppery bite.

Ingredients

2 aubergines
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Europe
France
Side dish
Mediterranean
Vegan

Method

Cut the aubergines in quarters lengthwise and then into chunks. Salt them as described for chichoumeye. Soften the onions, garlic and peppers in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over a gentle heat for 5–10 minutes, then add the celery and cook 5 minutes more. Add the tomatoes, olives and herbs,