Buy the smallest ripe vegetables in season you can find. Wash, do not peel your vegetables. Slice eggplant, salt, lay on tray till the moisture has been drawn out, about 20 minutes, wipe dry. Chop all vegetables in bite size pieces. Flavor your dish by frying garlic and onion in olive oil, 5 minutes, in a heavy cast iron pan with lid. When fragrant, add hardest vegetables first with bouquet garni, lid on, low heat, simmer till soft, about an hour. Add eggplant after half an hour.

Bouquet garni: fingerlength twigs of rosemary, or thyme, or marjoram, or lavender, and mint, or parsley, or cilantro, or all of them, with laurel leaf. Wrap in cheese cloth or fold inside a leaf of leek. Close with a sliver of leek long enough to put a knot in. Make 52 little bundles, add each herb when fresh, cheap and abundant, hang to dry in your kitchen, keep all year.

When you can smell your stew in your kitchen, add the tomatoes, sprinkle of crushed green peppercorns, simmer half an hour. Taste the ratatouille juice in the cast iron pot to determine your best flavors. If your pan cooks dry, add glass of white wine. If your pan cooks wet, take lid off till dry. Remove the bouquet garni. Eat with french bread and an optional fried farm egg on top. Enjoy the smell, enjoy the meal.