Recipe: roast Mediterranean courgette and pepper stew

This is basically ratatouille without the aubergine, and there's no aubergine because there wasn't any in the fridge when I was decideding what to cook on Saturday night. So this is a true store cupboard/leftovers recipe. I served it with plain roast leg of lamb and some boiled new potatoes dresed with a little extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, but it would work with just about any roast meat or fish. You could try reheating it gently in the oven with an egg or two cracked in the middle for lunch too.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 courgettes, roughly diced
1 medium Spanish onion, roughly diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, finely diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 red peppers, diced
1 tbsp tomato purée
20 cherry tomatoes, quartered
50ml reduced chicken stock or stock cube
salt and pepper
20 basil leaves, torn

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the courgettes until they take on some colour. Set aside. Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan and sweat the onion until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the chilli and peppers and cook until softened. Add the tomato purée and cook over a medium high heat for a minute or two until the colour deepens. Add the cherry tomatoes and chicken stock (if you are using a stock cube, add 50ml of water at this point) and stir well. Add the reserved courgettes, season with salt and pepper and cook gently for 30 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in the basil leaves at the last minute.

Comments

Unknown said…
Oooh, excite to have found this blog via Jim Fisher, what delicious sounding recipes! Thanks

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