There are a variety of recipes for Ratatouille and the ingredients often change from cook to cook, but most contain eggplant (aubergine), garlic, onions, zucchini (Italian squash or marrows), and bell peppers. Usually the recipe is seasoned with Herbes de Provence, but (as in this recipe) it can be as simple as parsley and basil. Often the individual vegetable components are cooked separately in olive oil, but I like this recipe that cooks the vegetables together.
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To begin, assemble the ingredients: 6 garlic cloves, 5 medium button or brown mushrooms (I prefer brown for more flavor), 1 medium zucchini, 5 sprigs of Italian parsley, 4 sprigs of basil, 1 medium onion, 1 can diced tomatoes (or 2 tomatoes peeled, seeded, and diced), chicken or vegetable stock (we'll need 3/4 cup or 180mL), 1 Tbs. tomato paste, 1 medium green bell pepper, and 1 large eggplant (about 1 pound or 450 g). Drain the canned tomatoes.
Wash and scrub all the vegetables. Remove the parsley and basil leaves from their stems. Dice the green bell pepper, eggplant, and onion. Quarter the zucchini lengthwise then slice into 1/4-in. (1/2 cm) segments. Quarter the mushrooms. Chop the parsley and the basil.
Start cooking by heating olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until the garlic smell intensifies, about one minute.
Add the diced onion and continue to saute until they turn translucent, about 4 more minutes.
Once the onions are translucent, add 1 Tbs. tomato paste. The tomato paste will be in a clump and will take a bit of stirring and pressing to get it to spread out and cover the onions and garlic.
As you work at spreading the paste out and mixing it with the onions and garlic, the paste will cook and darken in color. Once some of the paste starts to stick to the pan and brown, it's time to add the stock (about one minute).
Pour in 3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock and stir until the broth begins to simmer. Using your spatula or utensil, scrub the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits of garlic, onion, or tomato paste.
Add the diced eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Stir to combine thoroughly and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple minutes to promote even heating.
The eggplant will release a lot of liquid (slowly) into the pot and it's in this liquid that you'll want to simmer the other ingredients in. To evenly cook all the ingredients, you'll have to stir it to make sure the vegetables spend time touching eggplant liquid. As a bonus, the flavors mix amazingly well during this process.
The eggplant will mostly be falling apart at this point, but the zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms should be tender but not yet mushy.
Add the diced tomatoes and stir in. After about a minute, the tomatoes will have heated through. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
Stir in the chopped parsley and basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.Although ratatouille is usually served hot, we love eating this dish cold (usually at room temperature) with freshly toasted slices of a baguette especially during the summer.
Ratatouille (serves 4 to 6)
| 2 Tbs. olive oil | saute until aromatic over medium heat (1 min) | saute until translucent (4-5 min) | mix in and cook until color deepens (1 min) | deglaze pan | simmer, stirring often until vegetables are tender (10-12 min) | stir in and heat until warm (1 min) | stir in and take off heat | season to taste | |
| 6 cloves garlic | mince | ||||||||
| 1 medium (200 g) onion | dice | ||||||||
| 1 Tbs. (16 g) tomato paste | |||||||||
| 3/4 cup (180 mL) chicken or vegetable stock | |||||||||
| 1 large (450 g) eggplant | dice | ||||||||
| 1 medium (140 g) zucchini | quarter & slice | ||||||||
| 5 medium (100 g) brown mushrooms (cremini) | quarter | ||||||||
| 1 medium (150 g) green bell pepper | dice | ||||||||
| 14-1/2 oz. (411 g) can diced tomatoes | drain | ||||||||
| 5 sprigs Italian (flat-leaf) parsley | chop | ||||||||
| 4 sprigs Basil | chop | ||||||||
| salt & pepper | |||||||||
Here's the trailer and a 10 minute featurette.
Thanks! I fixed that error.
It is often served cold in Provence, and I like to do that, too.
I like my rat flavored with rosemary, instead of basil, if anyone is interested in variations on this recipe.
When you do it with eggs and paprika it is called piperade it is a recipe from the basque country.
Also, on the subject of ratatouille--we're hosting a contest over at Recipe4Living. Whoever submits the best recipe wins free movie tickets, so if you're interested, feel free to enter!
Also, if you dice the eggplant, sprinkle generously with salt, let sit for 1/2 hour, then rinse and bake or cook, then it will draw out the moisture and stay more firm.
I've salted eggplant before to reduce the bitterness and it never seemed to work as well as suggested. After some experimentation, I now believe that salting eggplant serves the purpose of firming up the structure of the eggplant flesh so it retains its form better during cooking. This practice also helps mask the bitterness a little, but the bitterness is not greatly reduced. The practice of salting eggplant was probably practiced to firm up the flesh (as it is in many recipes) and then later was attributed to reducing bitterness. The real secret is to just buy young eggplant (at least the common and asian varieties are not bitter when young). Older eggplants (they feel lighter/hollower and may have skin that is more shriveled and not tight and plump) tend to be much more bitter. Some other varieties of eggplant may also tend to be bitter too. Avoid these for this dish.
If you wish the diced eggplant to retain their shape more in this dish, then spend the time to salt them (slice them into rounds and sprinkle salt on them and let them sit on a wire rack set in a sheet pan for 1 to 2 hours). This should draw out some of the liquid (you'll see a little bit in the pan if you're lucky) but mostly serve to draw moisture out of the cells and into the gaps between them. This helps prevent the eggplant from soaking up an excessive amount of liquid and oil which leads to their falling apart. At this point, just rinse off the excess salt and dice.
This is the recipe Thomas Keller developed for confit byaldi (rattatouille) that appears in the movie.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/dining/131rrex.html?ex=1184558400&en=246c44656ea4e8ff&ei=5070
Another thing to try - if you have the time - cook all the ingredients separately (with exception of mushrooms and garlic - great together) - only combine with the tomatoes at the end, a great tip from Keith Floyd, makes for a great flavour.
One last thing - never, ever forget a good healthy dose of red wine :-)
But, why would anyone ever saute their minced garlic [u:cac403ae2a]before[/u:cac403ae2a] their onions? Any good chef will tell you that your garlic will be apt to burn especially in an olive oil which boils hotter than some other oils (like vegetable, canola, and others).
And, while we're on the topic of saute and flavour, you might want to experiment with a very small amount of sesame oil - it also boils very hot but it adds a beautiful aroma to the ratatouille.
Happy cooking, y'all.
This bothered me when I read it, but I didn't respond because the comment wasn't worth dignifying with a response. Any good chef would know how to saute their garlic before onions without burning the former. My mom often cooks this way--its gives the garlic time to release a deeper flavor, as my chef-instructors in cooking school taught me. And if there need be anymore proof, I give you an excerpt from the venerable James Beard's Beard on Food as he delivers his own Ratatouille recipe to his readers:
First, heat 1/2 cup oil--it can be olive or peanut oil, but olive oil definitely gives the best taste--in a heavy skillet and very gently saute 5 finely chopped garlic cloves. Add 1 1/2 cups chopped onion, and let that melt down and blend with the garlic ...
I've cooked your recipe a few times, always with the garlic first, as directed, and never burned my garlic once. Watch your temperature, and push the garlic around as needed--easy as that. Thank you for your recipe--it's awesome!
That's an All-Clad Stainless 8-qt. Stock Pot. One of my favorite pots to cook in - lots of space and high sides that keep messes contained. Thick aluminum clad with stainless makes it easy to see if food is browning and evenly heats so nothing burns - even when I stop stirring to take pictures.
Regrads, thank you for the recipe anyway, and sorry about my english.
Au revoir. Martin.
I made it last weekend and it was great. I don't understand about the "flour wrapper" though.
By the way, if anyone is under the illusion that the rat quickly knocked this out, there must have been several bottles of wine imbibed by the patron while he was waiting for this dish. It takes quite a while to make. Although it is very simple, there is a lot of prep work and it cooks a long time.
Being both an engineer and a good cook, I could imagine the flavors building and blending into one great dish as I read the receipe. I would like to write more but my stomach is growling, my mouth is watering and I am on my way out the door to buy the ingredients for tonights dinner...ratatouille. :lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confit_byaldi
I love the site, the recipes are easy to follow and ingredients are simple!
As a frustrated engineer and would be cook I love your site
That doesn't make sense. How does merely evaporating the water out of the eggplant remove the bitter component that will remain in the pan? And once you add other liquids, it will be reinfused into the moisture.
From the responses I've read and from my experience, I think the salting will work, if you are patient and remove enough liquid. That means you need enough salt. You can actually take the eggplant and squeeze it as hard as you want, like a sponge, to get even more of liquid out. This is more appropriate for when you want to deep-fry eggplant, but it will get lots of moisture out.
salting the eggplant to remove water has another effect: slices / pieces maintain their shape and consistency better vs. going to mush when cooked.
same with sliced cucumbers in german cucumber salad - slice, salt, allow to stand & drain water keeps them crispier & crunchier.
A good substitute for parsley is finely cut, fresh celery leaves to be used in small amounts as it is stronger tasting than parsley. Concerning the bitterness of the aubergine it is less so if one uses new or fresh ones, also I neutralize the bitterness by adding slices of apple on top of the aubergine when cooking the ingredients the way Remy did
I happened to make Ratatouille the other night, and had really excellent results. The recipe I used did not use broth - and alternately used fresh tomatoes and no stock of any kind. Also - after browning the onions and eggplant, and adding the rest of the veges the cooking was finished in the oven with an herb garni. I'm sure there are 100s of variations on this, but have you ever tried it this way? My results were very stellar.
"still" = "stick", correct?
"still" = "stick", correct?
Stick is correct. I've correct the article.
(SICR)
Hahahaha. Yep, another typo caught! I have not corrected this one. :)
don't know about sugar, not done that
but salt causes "stuff" to lose moisture - salt cured meats, etc.
natrium did a pretty good job on Egyptian mummies . . .
salt reduces spoilage - as in meats by less water to aid rot & pH changes which discourages the bacterial bugs.
for stuff like cucumbers the extracted water leaves the remaining cells crisper over time.
the exact bio-<whatever> / chemical reactions are not my expertise . . .
We are an engaged couple and Ratatouille has a special meaning for us since it is the first movie that we have gone together ;)
I think it will be our special meal during our marrige :)
And it sounds good to mcook this delicious meal with your love :)
If you don't like mushrooms, substitute with three pieces of crispy bacon crumbled.
Add several 1/4 cup of merlot about 5 minutes before you finish cooking and top each serving lightly with fresh parmesan -asiago mix cheese.
Or, substitute mushrooms with three pieces of crispy bacon crumbled.