Ratatouille

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The perfect end of summer dish for anyone, but especially for someone with a bountiful garden. Traditionally, ratatouille was used as a way of utilizing all of the vegetables grown during peak season, so that is exactly what we did. Featuring zucchini, squash, tomatoes, onions, and peppers, we put the phrase “if it grows together, it goes together” to action to create one of our favorite vegetable dishes of the year!

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It’s rich and satisfying, yet wonderfully nutritious.

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What Exactly is Ratatouille?

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Ratatouille, besides being a fantastic Disney movie (my favorite in fact), is a French dish consisting of vegetables, spices, and herbs, cooked together. Which was originally designed as a dish to utilize leftover scraps of vegetables, ratatouille has become a seasonal favorite around the world, not just in the Provencal region of France, where it originated.

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Traditionally consisting of eggplant, tomatoes, onions, peppers, zucchini, garlic, and herbs, cooked together in a manner similar to a stew, ratatouille has evolved into one of those dishes that has a loose definition and can be made with many different ingredients and in many different ways.

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The Versatility of Ratatouille

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The best part about ratatouille is the fact that it is so versatile. In fact, I rarely make ratatouille the same way twice. The reason for that is that ratatouille was originally a dish that utilized everything that you had growing in your garden. This recipe for ratatouille is my favorite, but if you plan to make this recipe at a different time of the year or you have different ingredients available, you could alter the ingredients entirely and still make a fantastic dish. By changing the vegetables, herbs, or complementary ingredients, you can make a dish with an entirely different flavor profile.

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Ingredients for the Best Ratatouille

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• Vegetables: As I have mentioned above, you can use almost any combination you want to make this dish, but I prefer the balance of using zucchini, squash, bell peppers, onions, and garlic. I like this combination because they not only taste great together, but they also reach their peak growing season during the same time of year (summer).
• Herbs: Parsley, basil, and thyme are always safe bets here but using what you have or what you have growing in your garden is always the best bet. I like to use a combination of fresh and dried herbs. When doing this, be sure to add the dried herbs early and the fresh ones towards the end of the cooking process because the dried herbs release their flavors slowly over time and the fresh herbs don’t need much time/heat (if any) to release their flavor.
• Complementary Flavors: I love to add a few red pepper flakes for some heat, some capers for a briny burst of flavor, and some fresh lemon zest for some freshness and pop!

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Making Ratatouille

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‍While ratatouille can be made in a number of ways, I elected to go the route of slicing and layering my vegetables into a casserole dish to be baked and served family-style. I like this method because it not only looks beautiful, but when baking all of the ingredients together, the flavors come together over time and create a fantastic sauce in the bottom of your casserole dish.

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This recipe can also be done by dicing all of the vegetables and cooking them together, but you will need to stagger the cooking of the vegetables to account for the variations in the cooking time needed for each vegetable.

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To make this recipe, you essentially:

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1. Cut Your Vegetables: When it comes to cutting your vegetables, you want to make sure you are cutting them to the same thickness. This will ensure that all the vegetables cook at the same rate so they will all be fork-tender when complete as opposed to having some vegetables being raw while others are overcooked and mush.
2. Cook Your Sofrito: Sofrito is the step/technique in which you slowly cook cut vegetables and spices in olive oil to extract the flavors and caramelize the sugars. While sofrito is typically used in Spanish and Italian cuisine, I use it for this French recipe as well because it is a great way of imparting flavor to the dish while cooking some of the vegetables that require longer cooking times. In this recipe, the sofrito consists of garlic, peppers, onions, tomatoes, dried herbs, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. Once everything is cooked low and slow, it is then added to the sliced vegetables to be baked.
3. Layer Your Vegetables and Season: Once the sofrito is complete, you simply layer all of the vegetables into the casserole dish, being sure to season each layer with salt and pepper, and add the herbs and sofrito to each layer, similar to if you were making lasagna.
4. Bake: Once all the vegetables are layered into the casserole dish, simply bake until all the vegetables are tender and you are done.

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Tips for Making Ratatouille

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1. Think of it as a lasagna: When layering the vegetables into the casserole dish, think of the dish as lasagna with the sofrito being the tomato sauce. You want to make sure all of the vegetables get seasoned slightly and stagger the addition of herbs, capers, and lemon zest so that all areas get some of each ingredient.
2. Cook it in advance: Suppose you want to be able to transfer the ratatouille to a plate and have it keep its shape and look beautiful. Bake the ratatouille a day in advance and let it cook in your fridge overnight with a piece of parchment paper on top of it and something slightly heavy to subtly compress all of the vegetables together.
3. Use a mandolin:e When cutting the vegetables, to ensure you keep the same thickness throughout, try using a Japanese Mandoline.

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This has to be one of our favorite recipes ever! Cheers and eat well.