Ingredients

• 1 aubergine

• 1 large white onion

• Vegetable oil for frying

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 tin of peeled plum tomatoes

• 15g fresh basil

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 5 large asparagus stalks

• 1 courgette

• 2 large jubilee tomatoes

• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Slice the aubergine and rub salt into both sides of each slice, leave in a colander to release water for at least 30 minutes. This allows the aubergine to become a lot more tender.

2. Finely chop the onion and fry in a pan with some oil until soft. When cooked add the chopped garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Then add the tinned tomatoes and half of the basil. Crumble in the stock cube, stir well, then pour into a large pie dish or the dish of your choice for the ratatouille

3. Now to cook the aubergine- fry in a wide base non-stick frying pan with a 1 tbsp of oil per batch you add to the pan. Ensure that all of the aubergine lay flat while they are frying and flip about every 3 minutes. I like to press mine with a spatula as they are cooking to ensure that they release their water.

4. Preheat the oven to 200C. While I preheat the oven I add the asparagus to a small baking try with a little bit of oil and put them in for about 10 minutes. This makes them bendy so that they can make a semi-circle shape in the pie dish to make the ratatouille look fancy.

5. Slice the courgette and tomatoes. Once the aubergine and asparagus are cooked assemble the ratatouille. I layered the vegetables alternately with the asparagus in-between layers, but you do you!

6. Sprinkle the remaining basil over the top, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.