But what in fact is a ratatouille?
It's a traditional French dish, originating in Nice, but commonly prepared on the entire Mediterranean coast. In fact, ratatouille is just one of the common names of this dish, the French one, as it has different names in different languages. The common thing is that it's strictly a vegetable dish (therefore vegetarian and vegan sustainable). Originally, all of the vegetables are mixed and sautéd together for couple of hours, but the movie promoted another, more restaurant-oriented way of preparing ratatouille, which I'm going to share with you in this post. I mean, I'm not sure if it tastes like in the movie, but it definitely looks like the one in the movie! :)
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 1 eggplant
- 1 potato
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 500 ml tomato sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 2 tablespoons oil
1. Chop onion and garlic. Heat the oil and cook onion until soft. Add garlic and cook for a few more seconds, until it starts to release its distinguishable smell. Then add tomato sauce and cook until it starts boiling. Add some salt and pepper to taste and set aside. You can use more garlic if you want.
Note: This is the fast version :) You can use fresh, peeled and chopped tomatoes instead to prepare the sauce. You'll need 700-800 g fresh tomatoes.
2. Meanwhile, peel the vegetables (except for the peppers, of course :) ) and cut them into thin slices. If you're not so skillful with the knife, you can use a mandolin for slicing. It would be nice if you use peppers in different colors.
3. Take some small baking pot and arrange the vegetables almost vertically. Put a slice of yellow squash, then eggplant, a red pepper, potato, zucchini and green pepper and repeat again until you have spent all of the vegetables. Of course, you can arrange them in different order. It is important that each slice overlaps the previous one and that the pan looks colorful in the end... Like this: |
|
It can be served hot, right away, or even after a few hours when all flavors have mixed and enhanced.
Enjoy and bon appétit!