I had never heard of Ratatouille, until a month ago when I bought my Michelle Bridges cook book.  It took me three weeks to get around to making the dish as I never liked cooked tomatoes but I now try to serve them regularly as they are recommended as men's health food and I am keen to do the best I can give Reg the best of health through his food.

Being an eclectic cook, I would be prepared to use any vegetables I think would suit, and not follow directions strictly.  I used two onions and two garlic cloves, sautéed in one teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, in  non stick pan. Then I sautéed the diced eggplant, for 5 minutes. I added the remaining chopped vegetables, celery, red capsicum, parsley, zucchini and a 400 gram tin of low salt, no added sugar or fat, chopped tomatoes  and I rinsed the can out with 1/4 cup of water and added that to the mixture.  I brought it to the simmer, turned it down low and left it for an hour, stirred and served a quarter of the stewed vegetable mixture with it's juices, in bowls and served with garlic rubbed toast.

It was unbelievably filling and tasty.  I would prefer it as a side dish as I found the after taste strong.  It would have been perfect with a glass of red wine to wash it down but I am not drinking alcohol now.    It was an easy, one pan dish to cook.

Reg appeared to enjoy it.

From Wikipedia:-
Ratatouille (pronounced /ˌrætəˈtuːiː, ˌrætəˈtwiː/, (rat-a-too-ee); French: [ʁatatuj]) is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise.

The word ratatouille comes from Occitan ratatolha and the recipe comes from Occitan cuisine. It is also used in French (touiller, also means to toss food). Ratatouille originated in the area around present day Occitan Provença (French: Provence) & Niça (French: Nice, Occitan: Niça); the Catalan "xamfaina" and the Majorcan "tombet" are versions of the same dish