Name: Vegetable Ragout
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: 500 g Potatoes; 300 g Aubergine; 300 g Courgette; 200 g Red bell pepper; 150 g Carrot; 150 g Onion; 300 ml Tomato passata; 3 piece Garlic cloves; 50 ml Sunflower oil; 200 ml Water; 2 piece Bay leaves; 10 g Fine sea salt; 2 g Ground black pepper; 20 g Fresh dill; 20 g Flat-leaf parsley

About this dish

Овочеве рагу is what a Ukrainian kitchen makes in late August, when the garden produces faster than anyone can eat and every vegetable is at once cheap and perfect. There is no fixed recipe — the list below is a August list, and in June it would be courgette and young carrot, in October pumpkin and cabbage. The method is the constant: each vegetable meets the fat before any liquid arrives, and the pan is never stirred more than it needs.

Vegan
Gluten-free
Lactose-free

Ingredients

4servings

500gPotatoes
300gAubergine
300gCourgette
200gRed bell pepper
150gCarrot
150gOnion
300mlTomato passata
3piecesGarlic cloves
50mlSunflower oil
200mlWater
2piecesBay leaves
10gFine sea salt
2gGround black pepper
20gFresh dill
20gFlat-leaf parsley

Instructions

Warm the oil in a wide heavy pan and cook the diced onion and carrot over medium heat for 8 minutes, until soft and sweet.
8 min
Tip: A wide pan, not a deep one. Vegetables piled deep steam each other and release water before they have browned, and this dish has no stock to hide behind.
Add the aubergine, courgette and pepper, cut into pieces the size of the potato dice, and cook for 6 minutes, stirring twice.
6 min
Tip: Twice, not constantly. Every stir breaks a little more of the vegetable and this is meant to be a ragout of recognisable pieces, not a purée.
Add the potatoes, garlic, salt and pepper and turn everything over once to coat.
4 min
Tip: The potato goes in last of the vegetables and first of the long cooking: it needs the whole 25 minutes, and anything added with it would be finished ten minutes early.
Pour in the passata, water and bay, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes, until a knife slides into the potato without resistance.
25 min
Tip: Just enough liquid to come a third of the way up, no more. The vegetables give up a great deal of their own, and a ragout that has to be drained at the end has lost its seasoning down the sink.
Take off the heat, stir through the dill and parsley and leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
2 min
Tip: Standing is not idleness: the pieces reabsorb the sauce as they cool slightly, and the dish goes from wet to glossy. This is also why it is better the next day.