Easy Ratatouille Recipe, Recipe for Ratatouille, Simple Ratatouille Recipe
for the website, and for the Happier Holidays Cookbook!
Ratatouille takes advantage of the best of fresh summer vegetables, and in this version it's a snap to have a French classic - simply!
Ratatouille is an absolute classic - and for good reason! The freshest summer vegetables are usually simmered together with basil for a delectable French country treat.The first time I made this I literally picked everything out of my mother's garden and had this within an hour. Now I hit the farmer's market for my veggies, and I've since adapted my recipe to take advantage of the oven by roasting the vegetables. Eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes go on a baking sheet with olive oil. The result is a more flavorful, fresher tasting finished dish. Serve this with simple pasta for a quick, fresh, vegetarian main dish.
ratatouille
Walter: Now yesterday, folks, I showed a chicken that's just a little bit spicy and good for a picnic, and Jan today has something that would be ideal with that chicken.
Jan: Oh it would because this stuff is delicious, fresh, hot, roasted out of the oven, and it's also great room temperature.
Walter: We love it room temperature. And you do it differently from what I've ever done it.
Jan: I do it a little bit differently. This is a classic ratatouille with a twist.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: I call it my ratatouille five by five, and that 's one of my easy ways to remember how we like it best.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: I start with some eggplant, and I cube it up not too tiny, but a little.
Walter: Right and salted it.
Jan: Sprinkle a little salt, and then right into the strainer and the sieve.
Walter: What happens when you do that is you get rid of all this ugly stuff that's in the eggplant, which includes the bitter taste.
Jan: That's right. That's what makes it bitter, and that's what gives it that . . . if you've got a little tinny eggplant, you don't have to do that, but this was a little bit bigger.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: All right. So next what I'm going to do, and I've got a preheated 425 degree oven back here.
Walter: Right.
Jan: Little bit of tomato. I first discovered this, I literally the first time I made it, I picked the vegetables fresh out of my mother's garden and walked it in the door and I had ratatouille within about 40 minutes.
Walter: Yeah.
Jan: So little bit of red onion. I think I had a whole one, but it wasn't a very big one. So this is where we're going to start with our first vegetables. We're holding out two more.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: A little bit of olive oil, and that's a classic signature of this dish.
Walter: Right.
Jan: So I'm using a good bit, but that olive oil, once the vegetables have roasted -- oh, I'm giving you something oily -- it is absolutely delicious. So that's what your crusty bread is going to be for.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: A little sprinkle of salt. Okay. Normally what I would do at this point is roast this for 10 minutes and then add the other vegetables, but we're going to fake it a little bit.
Walter: Right.
Jan: So zucchini, one small zucchini. Now we're still trying to use them up.
Walter: Yeah.
Jan: And a yellow pepper. You can use any pepper you like. If you've got green use it. Red, orange, whatever pepper. And garlic, and look at the amount of garlic.
Walter: That's translated as a lot.
Jan: That's right. My daughter chose how much garlic we're using. She loves it.
Walter: All right.
Jan: She did the chopping, so we're going to let her have it.
Walter: All right.
Jan: All right. So this roasts, usually when I start it, 10 minutes at first, another 15. All done. All right.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: So when it comes out, we have this.
Walter: Okay.
Jan: And it's almost finished at this point. What I'm going to do is plate it up a little bit, and then the last two things we're going to do, a little bit of fresh parsley and a little bit of fresh basil.
Walter: And you're ready to go.
Jan: And you are ready to go.
Walter: That is fabulous. Now, Jan, we're going to have to tell them how to get the recipe.
Jan: Okay. You go right ahead.
Walter: Write to Chef's Recipe, 6450 Papermill Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919, sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or go to the website at Local8Now.com and you'll find out how to make this absolutely fantastic ratatouille. I know, I've already tasted it.
Jan: It is good.
Walter: It's good.
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Seasonal Eating: Garden Ratatouille (Recipe in description).
The Open Door shows you how to make a delicious garden ratatouille, using vegetables you might have in your garden!
Ingredients
VEGGIES
1 eggplant
5 roma tomatoes
2 yellow squashes
2 zucchinis
SAUCE
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
Preheat the oven for 375˚F
Slice the eggplant, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini into 1-mm rounds
Make the sauce by heating the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, and bell peppers until soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning, add the crushed tomatoes. Stir until the ingredients are fully mixed. Remove from heat
Arrange the sliced veggies in any pattern- you could do eggplant, tomato, squash, zucchini in rows, or just throw them all in together- on top of the sauce Season with salt and pepper
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, then bake for another 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft
You can serve it while hot as a main dish or side. You can also make it ahead and set it in the fridge. You can cover it with foil and reheat in a 350˚F oven for 15 minutes, or microwave it, or eat it cold