I was served this in the Del Corso pizzeria in the Roman town of Capaccio-Paestum by a young chef Agostino Landiwho is pushing the boundaries of Italian cuisine, taking traditional dishes but adding new ingredients. Ciambotta is an Italian ratatouille, the main difference being that potatoes are added to the summer vegetable bonanza, making it even more substantial as a meal.In some versions all the vegetable are cooked separately and combined at the end with basil. It's up to you how you do it.Tips: Use plenty of olive oil. Just have a bottle next to the pan and top up. I also salt the vegetables during cooking so it's hard to estimate exactly how much salt but aubergines and potatoes need plenty of salt in the cooking. I prefer to salt during cooking rather than afterwards.
Course: Main Course, Vegetarian main course, Vegetarian sides
Cuisine: Campania, Italian, Naples, Neopolitan
Keyword: Ciambotto, Giambotto, ratatouille
Servings: 4
Equipment
Deep frying pan
Ingredients
1largered pepper, deseeded and chopped
1largegreen pepper, deseeded and chopped
2aubergines, 1 cm slices and cut into quarters or eighth, depending on circumference
2largepotatoes, peeled, chopped into 2 cm pieces
4thickspring onions, white and green chopped into 2cm pieces(or 2 standard brown onions)
2courgettes, cut lengthways in half then sliced into 1 cm pieces
Dozencherry tomatoes, cut into quarters or the equivalent amount in larger tomatoes
1tbspsea salt
4clovesgarlic, sliced thinly
handfulfresh basil leaves, torn, added at the end
Instructions
In a deep frying pan, fry all the vegetables in order of the ingredients list till soft and golden. Or fry them separately then combine. Add the fresh basil at the end.