Last month, I made a pan of ratatouille, using this recipe I found on the internet. If I posted it right, there should be a little video showing all the steps, and if you look at it, you’ll see that it’s quite labor-intensive. Now, the end result was very tasty (AND rewarding), but as noted above, labor intensive.
As it happens, I’m in the mood to have it again. Also, today is my cooking day, for making the lunches I’ll be taking to work for the next week. I just got back from the supermarket, having purchased the necessary vegetables for the dish. But I’m not really feeling like going through that whole assembly process today.
So can some kind Doper please provide a recipe for the lazy chef? I’m perfectly all right with sautéing the crunchier vegetables (such as bell peppers and onions) in advance, but if I can avoid slicing the squashes, eggplant, and tomatoes, I’d seize the opportunity.
Yeah, until the movie, I had never seen ratatouille like that. I worked at a restaurant for a couple of months as a lowly kitchen porter and they – who received a Michelin star a year or two later – did not do the sliced spiral style of ratatouille. but a chunky vegetable stew that looked more like this:
It’s also how I made it on my very first try, many years ago, before I lost my copy of “I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough, And Doggone It, People Like Me!”
Here’s the recipe I hand out at market. Does involve cutting vegetables, but is a lot less fussy about how to cut them, and certainly doesn’t involve carefully arranging slices.
Olive oil
One large or two smaller good strong cooking onions
Garlic, to taste (I use several cloves)
Sweet peppers, gold and/or red ripe, two or three
One standard or two or three Asian eggplant
Two to six tomatoes, depending on size
Basil, to taste; about a handful of fresh leaves
At least some of the following, but not necessarily all of them:
Summer squash (yellow, zucchini, cousa, and/or pattypan)
Snap beans (any type or color)
Green and/or purple sweet peppers
Tomatillos
Some hot pepper if you like
Any other vegetable and/or herb you think might be good
Take a large heavy frying pan and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Peel and cut up onions and garlic (cut to bitesize or smaller as you like) and sauté briefly on medium heat. Wash other produce. Remove seeds from peppers. Slice peppers and eggplant and add to pan. (It’s not necessary to peel eggplant if the skins are tender.) Keep on medium heat, stirring occasionally, and adding a little more oil if necessary, while you cut up and add summer squash, tomatillos, and / or beans in approximately that order. Cut tomatoes into quarters (or smaller, if they’re really big ones) and add them to pan; put a lid on and simmer on moderate heat until all vegetables are just tender. Add basil leaves (whole or chopped) and simmer another minute or two. Serve with rice, potatoes, fish or meat, or just with good bread.
Any leftovers? Try cold the next day with a little good vinegar added.
Thanks very much for that one. The one I made from the recipe in the OP made TEN side dish-sized servings. When I heated them up at work, I would sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top. Bloody delicious!
ETA: When you say “good vinegar,” would balsamic be a good choice?
Depending on your idea of a side dish size, and to some extent on the size of your pan, this one might too; I generally get a couple of pints for the freezer and more than one farmer-sized serving to eat fresh.
Balsamic’s good, so are wine vinegars, or you could try a good apple vinegar. This is a recipe designed for a whole lot of variation, both due to individual taste and to what happens to be on hand. I was mostly trying to suggest something other than basic grocery store white vinegar (which I use quite a bit of, but mostly as cleaning fluid.)
Yeah, there is really no canonical recipe for ratatouille (or really, any traditional regional dish); vary with vinegars, spices, types of eggplant, squash, et cetera. It is actually better if prepared the day before and reheated like many stews and braises, where the sauce tends to matriculate and concentrate.
I make this pretty often in the summertime.
I tend to use red wine vinegar or my secret weapon: tarragon vinegar.
Just get a jar of apple cider vinegar and stuff it with as much fresh tarragon as you physically fit in the bottle. I have a larger bottle that I transfer everything into. Let that steep for a month or two and your vinaigrette will change lives. Your hollandaise will make Baby Grogu clap his hands and squeal. Your bearnaise sauce will make Jacques Pepin applaud.
I’d go to the local gourmet store and see if I can find pre-sliced vegetables. My wife makes ratatouille fairly regularly, and she’s been known to use the Trader Joes’ Misto Alla Griglia, which is a bag of frozen grilled eggplant, zucchini, and red peppers. Not for the entirety of the vegetables, but mostly for the eggplant portion, and she supplements with additional yellow squash and other stuff.
It might be worthwhile to invest in a 'cube chopper" or similar mandolin blades for the tomatoes, onions, zucchini, snd eggplant. Minimal brunoisee or cube. I just rough chop, rustically, everything coarsely with a knife (so much quicker). Place it all on a roasting pan, tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper… roast about 35-45 minutes at 400F. Then add to the final stew or melange tatatouille…
