Ratatouille is not just a kids movie it’s also a fantastic Provencal dish made from vegetables including bell pepper, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and olive oil. The dish varies from region to region but this is a good representation of what you’ll see.
Ratatouille
Chef's Note: This dish is a perfect demonstration of what Harvest Eating is. Using abundant seasonal vegetables to create delicious meals out of necessity. This dish was surely created as a way to use the abundance of vegetables that grow in the south of France during warmer months. Play around with the recipe, make it work for you and make it with fresh ingredients.
Ingredients
- 3 cups zucchini diced
- 2 cups tomatoes diced
- 1 cup eggplant diced
- 1 cup summer squash diced
- 2 tbs fresh basil chopped
- 1/3 cup extra virin olive oil
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper diced
- 1/2 cup white onion diced
- 1 tbs rosemary minced
- 1 tbs fresh thyme minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large heavy dutch oven or pot over medium heat add the oil, the onions and garlic, cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (except basil) and lower heat, cook covered for 20 minutes, then uncover until it's nice and thick.
- Add basil chiffonade, mix well and serve.
So I made this recipe tonight with my wife and it was pretty good except that it ended up being more of a soup than a stew. We let it cook for more than an hour and it wouldn’t condense down. What contributes to the liquid the most? Tomatoes? Also, if we were to let it continue to cook even longer uncovered in order to let it condense, would that impact the flavor? All the veggies turned out a bit mushy but were still great. Is that how they are meant to end up or were they supposed to retain some of their firmness?
Still an awesome recipe though 🙂