Ordered your ratatouille with cannellini beans and olives? Check!
Enjoyed it with buttery mash, creamy polenta, tossed through pasta with heaps of Parmesan, or mopped the bowl with crusty olive bread? Check!
Added a piece of pan-fried chicken or fish, baked haloumi or crumbled feta? Check!
Then it’s time for you to discover 3 more clever ways with ratatouille, below.
Chipolata tray bake
This is a ridiculously quick and easy way to turn a portion of ratatouille into a family meal that fills up even the hungriest of teenagers. All you need is a pack of small sausages in the fridge.
The footie team arrives unexpectedly? Get some mash, bread or pasta going and the effect is a satisfyingly minimalist crowd-pleaser!
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Pour the ratatouille into a skillet (cast-iron frying pan), just because it looks great on the table! If you don’t have a skillet, use a baking or casserole dish.
Separate and prick the chipolata sausages and arrange over the top of the ratatouille.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the chipolatas, checking every 10 minutes or so. If anything is browning too fast, cover with foil. Bake until the chipolatas are cooked and the ratatouille thoroughly warmed through.
Rat shakshuka
Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat up the ratatouille in the microwave for 4 minutes.
Pour the ratatouille into a skillet (cast-iron frying pan), because it looks great on the table! If you don’t have a skillet, use a baking or casserole dish. You could also make these in individual ramekins.
Make a hollow in the ratatouille with your wooden spoon and break an egg into the hollow. Add up to 4 eggs in separate hollows – just as many eggs as you have people! Pop in the oven for around 10 minutes, or until the ratatouille is heated through, the whites of the eggs are firm and the yolks set as much as you like them.
In an ideal world you’ll serve this with buttered toast fingers for dipping in the eggs!
Bruschetta ratatouille
Friends drop over unexpectedly for Friday evening drinks? If you’ve a portion of ratatouille and some bread, then you can do party food! You are truly the host with the most!
You need a crisp, sturdy toast base to hold your ratatouille. Thinly sliced French stick (baguette) or ciabatta is ideal here – but if you’ve been caught unawares, most bread will work.
Heat up the ratatouille in the microwave, following the package instructions.
Toast the bread until golden and just crisp. Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the hot toast with the cut sides of the garlic to really amp up the flavour of the Med. Drizzle with good olive oil and top with your warmed ratatouille.
Sprinkle with chopped anchovies or finely grated Parmesan and – depending on how posh a party you’re having – go crazy with a micro-herb garnish!
Alternatively, follow the instructions above, but with a larger piece of toast, to make yourself an at-home sofa party!