Rachel Khoo: Spice up your life

While we Brits love a curry, the French get their spicy kicks from the culinary traditions bestowed by their North African population. Fiery, sociable feasts are all about tucking into platters of grilled merguez sausages, soupy tagines and fluffy couscous accompanied by a spicy hit of harissa.

But when summer comes, I fancy something a bit lighter. Every Frenchie has inherited their own way of making ratatouille, usually just as maman used to make. Well, my mum never made one, so I consider that my licence to make mine as I please. So here you have it, my little melting pot of a dish, which combines a quintessentially French dish with a fiesty hum of homemade harissa.

Spicy summer ratatouille

Serves two as a main dish

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 onion, finely chopped

1 sprig thyme, leaves only

3 tbsp olive oil

1 aubergine, thinly sliced

1 courgette, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced

12 cherry tomatoes

Pinch of sugar

For the harissa paste

190g cooked red peppers, skinned

1 chilli, seeds removed

3 cloves garlic

½ tsp caraway seeds, toasted

½ tsp cumin seeds, toasted

½ tsp paprika

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Gently fry the garlic, onion and thyme in 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Once the onion is translucent and soft, add the aubergine and cook until soft (roughly 5 minutes). In the meantime, make the harissa paste by blending all the ingredients together in a food processor. Toss the remaining vegetables with the onion, aubergine and harissa in a large roasting tin with 1 tbsp olive oil. Cover the roasting tin with foil, bake for 1 hour, then stir and add a pinch of sugar. Check seasoning. Set under a hot grill for 3-4 minutes or until the top layer of vegetables is caramelised around the edges. Serve with couscous and Greek yoghurt.