Ratatouille sauce (ideal for children)

Ratatouille Sauce

Ratatouille sauce is a vibrantly flavoured, health-packed topping for any pasta dish of your choice. For adults you may prefer not to puree the vegetables, but for fussy children, this is an ideal way of increasing the amount of vegetables they eat, without the usual battles at the dinnner table.

My son will run off a series of vegetables he doesn’t like, yet they are all in this recipe and he had no idea. Sneaky but it worked!

Ratatouille sauce can be cooked in the oven, on the stove or in a slow cooker. Roasting the vegetables in the oven will give the sweetest result due to the caramelisation process, but as there are so many sweet flavoured vegetables in this ratatouille sauce recipe, the variations of the end result are negligible.

Ratatouille sauce

Serves 4

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 aubergines, leave skin on, chop into 2″ cubes

2 leeks, thickly sliced

2 courgettes, thickly sliced

300g chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

8 large tomatoes, chopped

2 red onions, peeled and thickly sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped chunkily

4 carrotts, leave skins on, chunked

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Handful fresh basil leaves

To cook on the stove:

Use a large frying pan and melt the coconut oil.

Add the onions, leeks, carrots and aubergines and fry for 5 minutes on a gentle heat until they start to brown. Add the garlic, courgettes, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes. Fry on a gentle heat for a further 10 minutes then add the tinned tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.

Cover the pan and cook on a gentle heat for approximately 35 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and gooey looking. Add the basil just before serving.

Either spoon the vegetables onto a bowl of cooked pasta of your choice, or blend them into a puree.

For a vegetarian option, grated parmesan or cheddar make a delicious topping to this easy-to-prepare and nutrition-packed meal.

For a vegan option, scatter nutritional yeast on top of the vegetables or puree.

To cook in the oven:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Add the coconut oil to a large baking tray and let it melt. Remove the tray from the oven and add all the vegetables. Cover with foil and roast for approximately 40 minutes.

Add the tinned tomatoes and balsamic vinegar and combine well. Leave the foil off and return to the oven for a further 10 – 15 minutes (until the vegetables are starting to brown).

Remove from the oven, scatter the basil leaves on top and either serve over your favourite pasta or blend into a puree.

To cook in the slow cooker:

I cook on the high setting of my slow cooker. It’s a simple as adding all the ingredients, leaving adding the basil to a few minutes before serving up. As I don’t pre-fry or pre-boil anything you will not need the coconut oil.

Cook on a high setting for approximately 4 hours, stirriing occasionally if possible.

Serve with your favourite pasta.