With my recipes on this blog, I follow a simple pattern: Easy to make for anyone regardless of previous experience, but a feast for all senses. Few dishes encompass that as well as the Ratatouille I am going to show you.
Which to me feels really poetic – after all Chef Auguste Gusteau’s slogan from the movie Ratatouille was Anyone can cook!
The beauty of Ratatouille is:
- It can take the spotlight as the main dish if you simply serve it with fresh baguette – but you can also serve it with meat or fish.
- You can do all the preparation before your guests arrive and then just put in the oven in time for dinner
- Its ingredients are vegan and incredibly healthy, yet Ratatouille literally drowns you in flavor
There is some effort in preparation involved, but all the steps are incredibly easy and your friends and family will be blown away by this dish.
Ingredients:
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 bell peppers
- 500g canned tomatoes (whole, diced or passata all work)
- 1 large or 2 small eggplants
- 2 zucchini / courgettes
- 4-6 large, firm tomatoes
- plenty of fresh herbs (basil, thyme, parsley)
- olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
- Salt & pepper
- Fleur de Sel
You will also need a large ovenproof pot – ideally with non-stick coating and a lid.
This easily serves 4 people as a main dish served with baguette and 6 if you serve it as a side dish.
Ratatouille step-by-step
Preparation:
- Wash & dry the vegetables and herbs
- Separately dice the onions and bell peppers
- Grate the garlic
- Cut the tomatoes, zucchini and eggplants into thin slices (~ 2 mm) and salt the slices
- Chop the herbs
Cooking instructions:
- Heat a few spoons of olive oil in your large ovenproof pot
- Add the diced onions, sugar them and sauté them at medium heat for 3 minutes
- Add the grated garlic and chopped bell peppers and cook for another 5 minutes. Keep stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn
- Add the vinegar and stir for another 30 seconds
- Add your can of tomatoes, a teaspoon of salt, some pepper, the paprika powder and half the chopped herbs; mix together, bring to a simmer and cook for 8 minutes
- Take the pot off the stove. Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F
- Now comes the fun part: Grabbing 1 slice of tomato, zucchini and aubergine at a time, arrange these vegetables on top of the sauce from the outer edge to the middle of the pot
- Mix the remaining chopped herbs with 50 ml of olive oil, salt and pepper and spread lovingly over the vegetable rainbow
- Cover the pot with its lid (or with tin foil) and bake for 40 minutes, then take off the cover and put back in the oven for another 20 minutes
- Serve while warm and sprinkle with Fleur de Sel. This adds some extra crunchy texture. It also helps getting the saltiness just right.
Alternatively, you can prepare the Ratatouille in advance and only put it in the oven 1 hour before you want to serve it.
The pictures for this recipe are from a Sunday evening with my parents. Having an extra hand or two to help slice and dice all the ingredients definitely helps. But there is little you can do wrong in the actual cooking – I am sure it will taste great when you try this dish yourself.
Stay aware,
Chris
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