Lazy grilled-courgette ratatouille
I’m all for short cuts and recipes that don’t take too long. I love a traditional ratatouille made with eggplants, however it takes a very long time and a lot of preparation to be delicious. When you ditch the eggplants in favour of extra courgettes, you can get away with a much quicker cooking time.
Grilling the courgettes adds a unique smokiness that goes so nicely with the freshness of the tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes do work best for this recipe, but regular chopped tomatoes will work if you don’t have any. I would avoid using canned tomatoes for this one as the juice will add too much moisture.
Adding chickpeas makes this meal a little more substantial, enough to make this good enough to eat on its own, however feel free to serve this on top of rice with extra grilled protein of choice to make it heartier.
I make this meal whenever I have too many courgettes in the house. It also keeps very well in the fridge and is equally delicious to eat the leftovers cold.
Ingredients:
4 courgette
olive oil
1 red onion
dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme)
230g jar roasted red peppers
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 lemon
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Directions:
Preheat oven grill to high. Grate the courgettes into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, then mix together and spread across a baking tray. Place under the grill for 20 minutes, turning every few minutes to avoid burning.
Meanwhile, preheat a frying pan on medium heat, thinly slice the red onion and fry in a little more oil with the dried herbs. Cook until softened.
Chop the red peppers and tomatoes and slice the garlic. Add them to the frying pan and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the frying pan mixture to the courgettes, mix together and place back under the grill for another 10-15 minutes.
Put the frying pan back on the heat with a little more oil. Add the chickpeas and more salt and pepper, and the zest of the lemon. Cook until the chickpeas have crisped.
Once everything is done, scatter the chickpeas over the courgette mixture and serve.
