Peel the pepper, cut into small dice and add to the pan to soften along with the saffron. Remove the thyme, season to taste, and stir in the vinegar if using.

Braise everything– With all the vegetables in the pot, add the tomato, thyme, salt and pepper. Mix well, and stew on low for 20 – 25 minutes with the lid off until all the vegetables have gotten to know each other and are tender; Now put the whole lot into a colander, sprinkle generously with salt, press them down with a suitably sized plate and put weights (or other heavy objects) on top of the plate. Let them stand for about 1 hour – the salt will draw out any bitterness along with excess moisture. Cooking ratatouille in one pot is simple, easy, and totally feasible on a given weeknight. Three important things to keep in mind before you get started: Heat the oven to 230C, cut the peppers in half, removing the seeds and pith, and place them cut-side down on a lightly oiled baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes until the skin has blistered, then remove and leave to cool, turning the oven down to 140C.

From the book: The Green Roasting Tin

I love the visual combination of green zucchini and yellow squash. If you want to use two of one type instead of both, no problem. Bell Pepper Here in the south of France traditionnally each veg is cooked separately, this is time consuming so I go for the middle road.... cast iron pot on one side and a frying pan on the other. My veg (apart from onions fried directly in the pot) are fried a couple of minutes with olive oil in the pan then added to the pot and mixed. Ratatouille is a French vegetable stew that at first glance seems like a simple, humble dish. But made well, it punches well above its weight, a summery stunner bursting with Mediterranean flavours! The key to a great ratatouille is to sauté each vegetable separately before braising together. Healthy, versatile, and not just vegetarian but also 100% vegan. Vegans rejoice! 😉 Ratatouille: French vegetable stew

PASTA BAKE - under-cook the pasta slightly, then mix through the ratatouille and pour into an ovenproof dish. Top with grated cheese or breadcrumbs and bake until the top is crispy. Bake both pans in the oven at once, stirring halfway. The eggplant will finish sooner than the other pan. Ratatouille is like a relationship: you have to let things cool down a bit to really appreciate how good it is! The simple stew is rather muted when it’s served too hot or too cold. Allow the stew to rest if you have the time, and serve at room temperature to appreciate all the delicate, nuanced flavor.

When choosing tomatoes, I say anything goes. If it’s growing in your garden, toss it in there; you’ll have a nicer flavor overall. When I use smaller tomatoes, like cherry or pear, I rarely slice them, preferring to let them pop on their own as they cook. We’ll be making a bouquet garni for our ratatouille. Fresh is best! Plus bouquet garni are so pretty. Although, until recently, most Provençal kitchens are unlikely to have boasted an oven, ratatouille, as we have noted, is not a dish with much history, so Nigel Slater's recipe, which cooks the vegetables separately and then bakes them for 40 minutes with sliced tomatoes, seasoning and thyme, seems like the perfect solution to the insipidness of my previous attempts. This is another style of ratatouille altogether – and more like a very superior roasted vegetable medley for my taste, although it comes into its own cold the next day. But surely ratatouille ought to have some sort of sauce? The modern version