Ratatouille - French vegetable stew

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Make a small cross-shaped incision on the top of the tomato skin, but not too deep. Immerse it in boiling water for 30 seconds, then in ice water for 1 minute. Peel the tomato and dice its flesh into 1 cm pieces.
• 2
  Finely chop the onion and garlic. Remove the thyme leaves from the sprigs and roughly chop them. Cut the bell peppers, remove the seeds, and slice their flesh into strips 4 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. Without peeling, cut the zucchini and eggplant into sticks the same size as the bell peppers. Discard the core of the eggplant and zucchini.
• 3
  Heat 30 ml of oil in a pan over medium heat, then sauté the onion until translucent.
• 4
  Add the bell peppers, cover the pan, reduce the heat to one-third, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, mix, cover the pan again, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme, mix, cover, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• 5
  Remove the lid, increase the heat, and evaporate all the liquid from the pan.
• 6
  Heat 60 ml of oil in a pan over high heat and fry the zucchini for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Transfer to a colander and let it drain.
• 7
  Pour 60 ml of oil into the pan and fry the eggplant for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a colander and let it drain. Add the eggplant and zucchini to the simmered vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and mix. Serve warm.