Snow is a hungry-making substance. I spend hours staring out
the window at its endless cold blankness wanting nothing more than to fill my
stomach with warm things. I’m sure it’s primal, a leftover animal instinct from
hibernation, eat lots of warm soporific foods and lull yourself into that deep
winter sleep. Well, I’m craving meat-on-my-bones type meals, which is at odds
with a January healthy eating approach. Leaving me in one of those kitchen
dichotomies where belly’s reaching for a hearty beef stew or a good roast pork
and my head wants me to get my five-a-day in one sitting. This is a happy
medium, it’s warm and packed with flavour from all the veg and it includes a
soft-poached egg and I love a good oeuf any time of day. It’s great for
scooping up with hunks of bread. I can’t claim complete credit for the
inspiration as I ate something similar a few years ago at Bishopsgate Kitchen
in Shoreditch and this is my version of it.
Serves 2
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 red onion
1 courgette
½ aubergine
2 cloves garlic
4 plum tomatoes
2 sprigs of rosemary
5-6 leaves cavalo nero, cut into wide strips (use spring
greens if you can’t find it)
2 eggs
a few fresh oregano or basil leaves
a grating of pecorino
- Preheat the oven to 160C/ fan 140C. Roughly chop the peppers, onion, courgette and aubergine and fry each one a little in a frying pan, just enough to colour the edges a bit. Then add them to a casserole dish.
- Chop the garlic and tomatoes and add to the casserole dish along with the rosemary, picking the leaves from the sprigs and tearing slightly. Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir. Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven for about 45 minutes, stir and check the ratatouille halfway through.
- About 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time, bring two pans of water to the boil. In one place a little vinegar and carefully poach the eggs one at a time. In the second a little salt and cavalo nero strips. Remove the eggs after a few minutes when the yolk will still be runny and the cavolo nero once wilted but not yet mushy.
- Remove the ratatouille from the oven and heap into bowls topped with cavalo nero and then the egg. Finish with grated pecorino and a scattering of oregano leaves.
