1. Prepare a large cooking pot with thick bottom, put in plenty olive oil.

2. Chop the onion, put it into the pot and start it cooking slowly. Chop and add the garlic.

3. Wash the bell pepper, cut into small strips, and stir it in.

4. Wash the tomatoes, chop them up in big chunks, and throw them in (no peeling) and stir in well.

5. Add the herbs de Provence and pepper. If the tomatoes are flavorless (all too common these days), we add a small can of condensed tomato sauce at this time.

6. Cut the eggplant and the zucchini into big chunks, then throw them into the pot. Then then need to be stirred down frequently until they've merged with the rest of the ingredients.

This takes about an hour, from when we first start chopping until everything is in the pot together. We then cook slowly for one to two hours, depending on how chunky you want in and how eager you are to try it.