Ratatouille makes the most of what’s coming out of your garden, or of what you find in abundance at the farmer’s market this time of year – squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and basil. We’ve been making Ratatouille as long as we’ve been gardening, which is to say a couple of decades. Everyone loves ratatouille, but there are as many recipes for ratatouille as there are cooks in the kitchen, and the surprising fact is that they’re all good!
The base of this Ratatouille is best made with a rich, complex tomato sauce – Chunky Red Pepper Marinara (clickable link). This sauce is good whether you use fresh tomatoes or canned. You can even use jarred or canned tomato sauce in lieu of the marinara. Just work with what you have, but in any case, I recommend that you add some red pepper to the action. A sweet red pepper and tomato base really showcases the fresh veg and herbs.
The quantities of veg that I’ve specified in this Ratatouille recipe aren’t exact. If you’re shopping for your vegetables (rather than harvesting), just eyeball it – you’re going to slice the vegetables and layer them into your pan, and you want the the slices to be fairly equal in number. I like using a mandolin to slice the vegetables because it results in uniform slices, but it’s perfectly fine if you’re feeling exacting and in the mood to slice them by hand. Regardless of how you slice the vegetables, don’t slice them too thin. They will cook down and the flavors will meld, which is what you want. But you also want the slices to hold their own; this isn’t a soup. It’s Ratatouille!
I usually use a cast iron pan with sloping edges. You should smooth the puddle of tomato sauce across the bottom of the pan so that it’s even. The tomato sauce will help you to get the first round of layers started, so that they don’t slide down into the pan. Just start from the outside and keep layering your slices, moving in a spiral toward the center. It’s OK for your layers to be a bit loose, because if you make it to the center and you have more slices left over you can just scootch the veg out from the center so that you have a tighter spiral, and continue layering toward the center with the rest of your veg.
The most important element of the ratatouille is the herb sauce on top. Do NOT skimp on the olive oil. Ratatouille isn’t quite confit, but you do want the veg to meld and the topping to kind of melt into the veg. You’re looking for the slices of veg to have a smooth silky texture, with lots of flavor. Come on, you only make this once or twice a year – the olive oil is not that bad. Enjoy.
Ratatouille
Ingredients
VEGETABLES
- 1 cup Chunky Red Pepper Marinara (see Note below for link to recipe)
- 2 medium yellow squashes
- 2 medium zucchini
- 4 Asian eggplants
- 3 large Roma tomatoes
HERB SAUCE
- 1 t minced garlic
- 6 large basil leaves
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1 t dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 T olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven and prep the pan – Preheat the oven to 375℉. Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of your pan, and swirl to cover.
- Prep the veg – Slice the squash, eggplant, and tomatoes into rounds of equal width. I recommend 1/4 inch slices.
- Layer the veg – Lay the veg into your pan in a spiral, starting from the outside.
- Make the herb sauce – Give the garlic a rough chop, then add the garlic, basil, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper to your food processor. Pulse a few times, then pour in the oil while the machine is running to emulsify the sauce. Spoon the herb sauce over the veg. Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the whole thing.
- Bake – Cover the ratatouille and bake it for 1 hour. Uncover it and bake it for a few minutes longer.
- Garnish and serve – Pull the ratatouille out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes or so. Then top it with more fresh basil and parsley, and serve.
Notes
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