Ratatouille. Step-by-step Recipe With Photo

Having tried our today's ratatouille recipe, you will be amazed - can a dish of only vegetables be so tasty ?! Maybe, and how! And besides - spectacular, colorful, interesting. Offer your family or guests a real French ratatouille from Nice for dinner.

"Ratatouille" is not only a famous cartoon, but also a recipe worthy of attention. The dish appeared in the 19th century: the first ratatouille was mentioned in a cookbook published in 1778. And the modern cartoon got the name of the recipe according to which the chef Remy, a cute little rat, prepares his signature dish.

The intriguing name of this chic summer recipe comes from the vernacular 'rata' - 'food' in the dialect of French peasants (ratatouille was originally the food of poor farmers, as the dish is made from available vegetables that grow in abundance in the garden beds in summer). It is interesting that in English 'rat' is a rat, perhaps that is why it acts as a cartoon cook.

And the second part of Ratatouille, 'touiller', means "to stir" - because in one of the variants, ratatouille is prepared by cutting vegetables into cubes and stirring - like our stew. Many peoples have an analogue of the French ratatouille: the Spaniards have pisto, the Italians have caponata, and the Hungarians have lecho.

But in different countries and even among different culinary specialists, the dish turns out to be different. Ratatouille, like borscht, everyone has their own! A variety of spices are added to the basic ingredients - zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic. The classic version is with Provencal herbs - basil, rosemary, mint. However, you can add what you love and what grows in your latitudes - dill, parsley, arugula … Also, plus to the vegetables listed above, they began to add eggplants, which made the dish only won.

The difference is not only in taste, but also in the way the ratatouille is served. The most straightforward option is to cut the vegetables into cubes. But it is much more interesting and effective to slice them - that is, cut them into thin circles and lay them in rows or in a spiral. And the usual "stew" immediately turns into a restaurant dish!

It is convenient to use a slicer for cutting, but if there is no one on the farm, it is quite possible to cut vegetables with a sharp knife.

It is important that all vegetables must be of the same diameter, flat - then it will be easy to cut them into the same circles, and the dish will turn out beautiful.

Ingredients for ratatouille

(depending on the size of your baking dish):

• 1-2 zucchini or young squash;
• 1-2 small eggplants;
• 5-7 tomatoes.

For tomato sauce:

• 4 medium tomatoes;
• 1 onion;
• 1 sweet bell pepper, preferably red;
• 1 hot red chilli - optional
• salt, sugar, ground black pepper to taste;
• 1-2 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

And:

• a bunch of parsley;
• 1-2 cloves of garlic.

Choose small zucchini so that the skin is thin and the seeds are small. Tomatoes for slicing are not too ripe: stronger ones are easier to cut into thin slices. But for the sauce you need very ripe, soft tomatoes.

Method of preparing ratatouille

We cut the eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes into circles of equal diameter, 2-3 mm thick: the thinner, the easier it will be to lay out the vegetables in a circle or in a spiral, and they will bake faster.

So that the bitter taste of eggplant disappears and the slices become flexible, add the circles and leave for 10 minutes, then rinse with water.

While the little blue ones are infused, prepare the tomato sauce for the ratatouille. Peel and finely chop the onion. Rinse the bell pepper, remove the tail and core and cut into cubes.

Spread the onion in olive or sunflower oil until golden-transparent.

Add chopped bell peppers to the onion and continue, stirring occasionally, sauté over low heat.

Let's turn the tomatoes for the sauce into a paste: you can pour over them with boiling water, then with cold water, remove the peel and cut into cubes. But it's easier to cut the tomatoes and grate the pulp on a coarse grater.

Add tomatoes to the peppers and onions, simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes over low heat. Then add a little chopped greens, passed through a press or finely chopped garlic and spices: about 1/3 tsp. salt; 0.5 tsp sugar, a pinch of ground black pepper. The sauce is ready, you can proceed to the most exciting part - laying out the ratatouille!

After greasing the baking dish with vegetable oil, put half the sauce on the bottom (and pour the second half over the finished ratatouille when serving).

Now we spread the slices of vegetables on the sauce, alternating: eggplant-tomato-zucchini. If you have a round shape, it will turn out beautifully if you lay it out in a spiral or rings, and make a flower in the center. If the shape is rectangular, you can lay out the circles in rows.

Sprinkle the ratatouille on top with finely chopped parsley, basil, lightly sprinkle with vegetable oil and cover with a sheet of pastry parchment.

We bake at 180-200 ºС from 35 to 45 minutes - until the vegetables become soft (you can check with the tip of a knife, gently pulling out the form and removing the paper).

To put the ratatouille beautifully on a plate, pry portions of vegetable circles with a silicone spatula or spoon and, holding on the other side with a fork, transfer to a plate.

Serve ratatouille with tomato sauce, garnish with herbs. Tasty both warm and cold. Even without garnish and meat!

The only caveat - if you generously sprinkled ratatouille with oil, plus poured too much oil into the sauce - the dish may seem greasy, then you should eat it with the addition of rice or potatoes and, of course, bread.