On the first page of Frederic Raphael’s novel, Heaven and Earth (1985) is the description of a tea-cloth on which is printed a recipe for ratatouille

“Coriander seeds,” he said. “That’s a new one.”

I love ratatouille, especially with scrambled eggs for a quick supper or cold as ‘a delicious beginning to a summer meal’ as Robert Carrier writes. As it is very versatile, it doesn’t have a ‘retro’ feel but, out of interest, I have just looked up those recipes that I would have used in the early 1970s, Elizabeth David in French Provincial Cooking and the one in my now disintegrated copy of The Robert Carrier Cookbook.

The recipes each book has for ratatouille are basically the same. What is different in the way I cook this dish today is that I use twice as much tomato. I had also forgotten that Elizabeth David, who admits that there are many variations of this dish, uses a good sprinkling of crushed coriander seed. I list it as optional. I have retained Elizabeth David’s measurement for olive oil as I can picture just the sort of hand-painted Provençal coffee cup she might have used.

Today, we think of basil as being essential in ratatouille. Both writers were happy to substitute parsley.

2 large or 3 medium sized onions
3 aubergines
3 courgettes
3 red sweet peppers
500g tomatoes, preferably ripe plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 coffee-cups (after-dinner size) olive oil
Basil leaves, torn
Crushed coriander seeds (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by making a tomato sauce. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and place them flat side down in a large frying pan with a little of the olive oil. Cook slowly with the lid on until the tomato skins wrinkle and the juice begins to run. Take off the lid. The skins can now be lifted off with a fork (don’t worry if some bits of skin remain) and the tomatoes left to cook until they are reduced into a sauce. Any hard centres of the tomatoes can be removed at the end. When the sauce is ready, put it in a bowl and leave to cool.

While the tomatoes are cooking, slice and cube the aubergines and courgettes and place them in colander. Sprinkle with salt to remove excess moisture. Leave for an hour or so.

Slice the onions thinly and cut the peppers (removing the core and all the seeds) into thin strips.

In a large sauce pan, gently fry the onion slices in half the oil until they are soft but not brown. Add the aubergine, courgette, peppers, crushed garlic and the rest of the oil. Cover the pan and continue to cook gently for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the tomato sauce, coriander seeds (if using) and check for seasoning. Cook for a further 30 minutes with the lid off until the vegetables are cooked but not mushy. Add the basil toward the end of cooking.