Baked Ratatouille with Eggs

📝 Ingredients

• 1 aubergine (about 300 g)
• 1 courgette (about 250 g)
• 1 red pepper (about 150 g)
• 1 brown onion + 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp olive oil (1 for the aubergine, 1 for the other vegetables)
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400 g)
• 1 tsp dried thyme + 1 bay leaf
• 6 eggs (3 per person)
• 4 slices of country bread (about 30 g each)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Ovenproof sauté pan (or gratin dish)
• Cutting board and knife
• Wooden spoon
• Small bowl
• Toaster

📖 Steps

1. Cut the aubergine, courgette and deseeded pepper into roughly 1.5 cm dice, keeping the vegetables separate. Peel and slice the onion, and chop the garlic. Pieces of the same size cook at the same rate: no mush, no crunchy vegetables.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the sauté pan over a medium-high heat and brown the aubergine for 6 to 7 min, stirring. It soaks up the oil in one go: don't add more, but cover for 2 min so it steams. Set it aside on a plate.
3. In the same pan, heat the second spoonful of oil over medium heat and cook the onion and pepper for 5 min, stirring. Add the courgette and garlic, then cook for another 3 min, until the courgette starts to brown.
4. Return the aubergine to the pan and add the chopped tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, ½ tsp salt and some pepper. Simmer for 20 min over a low heat with the lid ajar, stirring now and then: the ratatouille should be thick, with almost no liquid. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
5. Remove the bay leaf and adjust the seasoning (transfer to a gratin dish if your pan isn't ovenproof). Smooth the surface and make 6 hollows with the back of a spoon. Crack each egg into a small bowl, then slide it into a hollow: no shell, no broken yolk.
6. Lightly season the eggs with salt and pepper, then bake for 10 to 14 min. Keep an eye on them from 10 min: they're ready when the whites are opaque and set but the yolks still wobble when you move the dish. They keep cooking once out of the oven.
7. While the eggs are cooking, toast the slices of country bread in the toaster. Serve the ratatouille with eggs piping hot, straight from the dish set on the table, with the toast for dipping into the yolks.