From Smart Food,
Gabriel Gaté, Anne O’Donovan Pty Ltd, 1992.
I had not used Gabriel Gaté’s book before though it seems as
though I’ve had it for some time. I’m going through a spell of getting back
into some lesser-used books that have been sitting patiently waiting to be
picked up again. This one was an Anti-Cancer Council cookbook and, though it is
not a vegetarian book, it has a reasonable number of recipes that are
worthwhile. I settled on trying this peperonata.
From the ingredients list it appeared to be very similar to
a ratatouille—and so it proved to be.
Firstly an onion was cut into slices along with a green and
a red capsicum. They were fried gently in a little olive oil until they had
softened. Then two sliced zucchini, half an eggplant quartered and sliced and
two large tomatoes cut into eighths were added along with half a teaspoon of
dried oregano. I had run out of garlic so instead of adding a clove I tossed in a
teaspoon of garlic powder. A large grinding of black pepper was added with a
few pinches of salt (though salt was not called for). The ingredients were
stirred to mix them well and then they went on a low heat until cooked.
Like its cousin the ratatouille this had plenty of flavour
and a rich sauce from the vegetable juices as no water was added at all. An
easily made, reasonably quick one to prepare as you just cut up the vegetables
and put them into the pot.
Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of
cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔
When cool they were added to a dressing of a
tablespoon red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, a teaspoon soya sauce and
a couple of drops of sesame oil. After gently turning the vegetables around in
the dressing they were ready to serve, sprinkled with sesame seeds.
