Ratatouille Recipe
1-2 eggplants, peeled and cut into large dice
4-5 summer squash (zucchini, cousa, or yellow), sliced 1/3 inch thick
2 yellow onions, diced
2 peppers (red, yellow, or orange), diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary
olive oil as needed for browning
28 oz diced canned tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
1 bay leaf
a drizzle of pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar
Place the eggplants and squash into a colander, sprinkle with salt very generously, toss, and let sit over a bowl at least 45 min to release the juice. Dry them well on paper towels before cooking. Set 2 large skillets over high heat (see the video for pan types) and add enough olive oil to form a 1mm layer. Add eggplant and zucchini in a single layer and brown on both sides, regulating heat so that the vegetables brown steadily, but don’t burn. Add oil as necessary. Remove to a colander set over a bowl and repeat with remaining eggplant and zucchini.
Lower the heat under the stainless steel pan, add 2 Tbsp olive oil, onion, peppers, and the oil and juices that drip out of browned eggplant and zucchini. Season with salt and cook stirring occasionally until onion is translucent, about 15 min. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook stirring until aromatic, about 1 min. Add the tomatoes and wine. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 min. Add a bayleaf, eggplant and zucchini. Bring to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered for about 40 min. Take off heat. Season to taste with salt and pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar. Let sit for at least 30 min before serving. Can be rewarmed or served at room temp. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Knife Skills Videos:
Dicing Onions https://youtu.be/Nmr1l5IV9Os
Dicing Peppers https://youtu.be/WEsMAaQzit8
Mincing Garlic https://youtu.be/DLlLzY0IsP4
Mincing Rosemary https://youtu.be/GCLpDR8rIpc
31 Comments
OMG!!! You’re a lovely culinary pro!!!!!
Love you. Yes, I agree that each individual ingredient requires it's own love .
excellent
Dam that’s nuthin but oil and salt!!!
What I love is your somewhat cavalier approach to what works.
So it's a bit of the wrong oil? Leave it in and see if it makes a difference…!
My understanding of "Ratta Stewey" (my grand niece's take after watching the movie) is that it was a peasants' dish made with whatever was at hand.
Adopting this approach, our recipe contains more or less what's in the fridge… or in the garden
Eggplant (brinjals, we call 'em), onions, zucchini, tomatoes, cabbage, capsicums, radish, bok choi, green beans, spinach, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, basil, bay leaves fresh from our own bush. Red wine. You name it. When it's Ratty Stewy time, if it grows in soil and is not moving, in it goes.
We don't peel or seed anything. Slice it ¼ – ½"," de-water brinjals, cabbage and squashes as you do, brown everything separately, whack it in layers in a roasting pan, cover it and into the oven for whatever seems long enough, take off the cover and grill for for however it takes to polish off a small glass of red wine.
Goes great with mutton stew…
why not just deep fry in a mesh basket….
I am captivated by your beauty and your accent. And I love the way you cook. I have saved so many of your videos to cook. Thank-you Helen.
I just made this exactly as presented. Delicious so far and I'll let you know tomorrow how it is. I love that the veggies stay more intact and less like mush. The browning really helps the complexity of flavor too. Nice method. Now what to serve it with….
I also love a recipe that calls for a bit of red wine since it gives me a valid reason to have an open bottle at hand. LOL
My method: After salting the eggplant and squash, I toss them lightly with olive oil, and then spread them out (separately) on sheet pans to roast in the oven. This way extracts moisture and browns the veggies, but without the trouble of pan frying. My finished ratatouille is very light tasting due to much less fat.
Secret ingredient — finish the ratatouille with a spoonful of prepared horseradish. It adds that something special, yet unidentifiable.
What's that background score at 6:30? Can't put my finger on it…
This looks so delicious, I can’t wait to make it with veggies from my garden this summer!
Awesome looking dish! Like that you browned the eggplant separately, but humbly suggest ditching the oil in that one pan after browning as eggplant imparts bitterness to that oil. Got that tip from nonna 😊
Helen are you Romanian or Russian ?
this is by far the best recipe for this dish I saw or read, and it is almost like I would do it, just do all what is necessary to make it more tasteful. As you said the difference with what I am doing is just personal preference in spices and wine and type of vegs one adds in. that is always so personal and so not important. Thank you Jelena!
Ok I've made this a few times now and I have to say that it's the bomb. You get veggies that have the complex flavor that browning gives and a much improved texture. You end up with a veg ragu instead of soup and all the time it takes is worth it.
I cook my ratatouille veg in a wok over high heat and get good browning and have plenty of space to mix and move. I've never used onion in mine. I make huge batches at end of summer when the veg are plentiful and freeze it for use out of season
Helen time to make Ratatouille, had a hard time finding you're video, searched Ratatouille and you were not there, Ratatouille recipe no luck took a while but I found it, I think its in the title Ratatouille–How to Make Ratatouille, I think it in the two dashes just a guess try Ratatouille all alone and see if you get more views. my favorite now to the cooking with Love
Great recipe Helen I'm sure it will be delicious
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I made it. I ate it. I loved it. Thank you Helen for a keeper recipe.
This is why I think the best way to make ratatouille is to grill the vegetables: grilling removes enough moisture.
Fantastic.. For a vegetarian this is a superb recipe. You look lovely and nature, your voice is endearing and you made me try it our today.
Great recipe .
love ratatouille, I like doing the browning in the oven on big baking sheets.
I make this all the time and freeze it. I brown my veggies until almost burned,
Does it turn totally to mush if you freeze it?
It's so strange, a red sauce I make also tastes better the day after, is there food science behind that?
I made Ratatouille a few times many years ago without a recipe & it was one of the most delicious dishes I've ever tasted. Somehow I forget about it for years at a time, then sporadically long to make it again! So glad I found this video this morning. I'm going to buy groceries later today.
As you noted, it's even better the next day. Maybe it's just that the tomato, garlic, herbs & veggie juices have time to marinate together, developing a more harmonic vibe.
Your recipe looks closest to what I made. So many recipes I've seen look nothing like your savory looking stew, including the use of canned tomatoes & a splash of red wine. I happen to have some Pomegranate syrup too, but may prefer a white Balsamic. I don't recall using any vinegar in mine, but can see how it may be worthwhile to try.
I'm always interested in developing flavors by creating & then incorporating "fond" in some dishes, so love that you see this browning of the veggies as an essential step in develiping the kinds of flavors I enjoy so much.
So I'm looking forward to following your techniques shown so well here. Thanks so much for showing us how to cook all your beautiful & no doubt flavorful meals. So much depends on technique plus, of course quality ingredients.
Summertime is the best time to prepare this – ideally using home grown and/or locally grown veggies. But it's mid September here in MA, so I think I'll be buying canned Italian tomatoes – as I did years ago, & using grocery store veggies the next time, & hope for the best.
I recall that once you'd recommended some moderately priced & drinkable wines you've chosen to cook with. I saw that show a couple years ago & now can't recall which brands you'd recommended, so if anyone reads this & knows, please tell me.
Many thanks for your excellent teaching skills, charming personality & attention to details.
For the step in which you brown the veg could you do that on a sheet pan? I tried the recipe took me around 3 hours but also was using fresh tomatoes, very tired now. Havent tasted it yet
The only explanation I can offer for why ratatouille tastes better the second day is that all the flavors blend. That's what my mother used to say. And it's the same with soup.
I fear you may have overthought this dish but definitely A for effort