For the sake of a more universal description, I refer to this dish as Greek Ratatouille, as most of us know of the French colourful, multi-veggie dish. The 'touille' part of the word actually means mix (as in variety) in French, while rata meant simple or rough n ready in old French slang. Greek Ratatouille is called 'tourlou' in Greek, which means, again in slang, a motley veggie mix. All this kind of 'thrown together' descriptive stuff basically means that it's quick and easy to make.
Here's the basic recipe: (for approx. 4 people)
3 carrots (medium) (sliced in rounds or however into roughly 1 inch bits)
3 tomatoes (roughly chopped)
3 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
3 zucchinis (sliced like the carrots)
1 large onion (roughly chopped)
1 bay leaf
Approx. 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup water
1 heaped tspn tomato paste
Salt / pepper
(and whichever other veggies you may desire, such as peppers, squash, etc)
Place everything in a large, oven tray. Cook in medium heat oven for about an hour, mixing once or twice.
Variations to main recipe:
Once the ratatouille / tourlou is made and cooked (as above), you may add 4 salmon fillets and cook on each side for about 7 minutes on top of the actual tourlou.
Or, you may add crumbled feta cheese and cook for 5 or 10 mins at the end, or not cook the feta cheese at all.
You may also prefer to add either chicken, beef or pork, or even sausage (preferably thick Continental style). Whichever of these meatier versions you may choose, you simply mix in during the initial cooking with the veggies, making it a super tourlou. Enjoy.
