Ratatouille

Ingredients

Vegetables

• 2aubergines, in 2 cm cubes
• 3courgettes, in 2 cm cubes
• 2red peppers, in strips
• 1yellow pepper
• 3onions, sliced
• 6ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

Aromatics

• 6 clovesgarlic
• 1bouquet garni: thyme, bay, parsley
• 1 sprigrosemary

Also

• 150 mlgood olive oil
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 tspsugar, if the tomatoes need it

To finish

• a large handful of basil
• more olive oil

To serve

• warm or at room temperature, with bread

Directions

1. Cut all the vegetables to roughly the same size, about 2 cm. Now salt the aubergine cubes and leave them in a colander for 30 minutes, then pat them dry. Heat a good depth of olive oil in a wide pan. Fry the aubergine first, in batches, until deep golden on all sides. Do not crowd the pan, which steams it grey instead of browning it.
2. Lift the aubergine out and set it aside on paper. Fry the courgettes in the same pan until golden at the edges but still firm. Cook the courgettes briefly. Set the courgettes aside in their own bowl.
3. Fry the peppers until softened and slightly blistered, and set them aside. Now cook the onions slowly in the same pan for 15 minutes until soft and sweet, then add the garlic.
4. Add the tomatoes, the bouquet garni and a pinch of sugar if they need it, and cook for 20 minutes into a thick sauce. Peel the tomatoes by scoring and blanching them, because the skins roll up into unpleasant strips in the finished dish.
5. Cook the tomato right down until it is thick and jammy rather than watery. Fold rather than stir, because the vegetables are already cooked and you are combining them, not cooking them further.
6. Simmer very gently, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes so the flavours marry. Season generously with salt and pepper and fish out the bouquet garni. Pour over more good olive oil.
7. Let it stand at least 30 minutes before serving. It is served as a side to lamb or fish, as a starter with bread, or cold the next day with a poached egg on top.

Technique

• It freezes well and reheats gently.
• The vegetables should be recognisable in the finished dish rather than collapsed into a purée.
• Cold ratatouille with a fried egg is a standard Provençal lunch.

Substitutions

• Good tinned tomatoes when fresh ones are poor, which is most of the year.
• All the vegetables cooked together, if you accept a softer, more uniform result.

Variations

• Confit byaldi, sliced thin and baked in a spiral.
• Bohémienne, the aubergine and tomato version from the Camargue.
• With olives and capers folded through.

History

A vegetable stew from Nice and the surrounding Provençal countryside, first written down under the name ratatouille only in the late 1700s, though the underlying peasant technique of stewing whatever summer vegetables were on hand together in olive oil is certainly older than any specific written recipe for it. The name comes from the French touiller, to stir or toss, by way of an older word for a coarse stew, and it was originally a frugal, humble dish rather than a refined one, cooked by farmers and laborers to use up a garden’s summer surplus. Its now-common presentation, vegetables sliced thin and arranged in overlapping rows rather than simply stewed together, is a modern restaurant-kitchen development, not the traditional rustic form.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ratatouille?

Ratatouille is a salad & side from France: provençal stew of aubergine, courgette, peppers, and tomato. A vegetable stew from Nice and the surrounding Provençal countryside, first written down under the name ratatouille only in the late 1700s, though the underlying peasant technique of stewing whatever summer vegetables were on hand together in olive oil is certainly older than any specific written recipe for it. The name comes from the French touiller, to stir or toss, by way of an older word for a coarse stew, and it was originally a frugal, humble dish rather than a refined one, cooked by farmers and laborers to use up a garden’s summer surplus. Its now-common presentation, vegetables sliced thin and arranged in overlapping rows rather than simply stewed together, is a modern restaurant-kitchen development, not the traditional rustic form.

How long does Ratatouille take to make?

Ratatouille takes 30 min of preparation and 1 hr 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Ratatouille?

Yes, within limits. Good tinned tomatoes when fresh ones are poor, which is most of the year. All the vegetables cooked together, if you accept a softer, more uniform result.

What is the most important thing to get right in Ratatouille?

Cut all the vegetables to roughly the same size, about 2 cm. Now salt the aubergine cubes and leave them in a colander for 30 minutes, then pat them dry. Heat a good depth of olive oil in a wide pan. Fry the aubergine first, in batches, until deep golden on all sides. Do not crowd the pan, which steams it grey instead of browning it.