ratatouille Niçoise
Ratatouille, made famous by the 2007 movie of the same name, is a dish of slowly braised vegetables indigenous to the Mediterranean, hailing originally from Nice. Every French cook has their own version of this Provençal classic from the South of France, but everyone agrees that certain tasks best enhance the dish. Stew the ratatouille uncovered to avoid too much liquid in the final product. This recipe uses much less oil than the traditional recipe and avoid high heat cooking with the oil.
Serves: 6
Time: 30 minutes prep + 1 to 1.5 hours cook
How to Enjoy: room temperature or chilled on a hot day; delicious as a side served with lentils or on a summer buffet
Ingredients
3 medium eggplant
Kosher salt
8 large Roma tomatoes
1 large yellow or white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
Several sprigs of fresh thyme, tied into a bundle (or 1 teaspoon dried)
3 bay leaves, dried
Sea salt
2 medium red bell peppers
3 medium zucchini
Several sprigs of fresh parsley, tied into a bundle
Freshly ground pepper
⅓ cup high quality extra-virgin olive oil, optional
Instructions
Salt the eggplant: Cut eggplant in 1-inch cubes, place in a colander set over a plate, and sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt; set aside for 30 minutes. Discard the dark juices, rinse eggplant well, and place in an old dishtowel; squeeze to eliminate excess moisture.
Peel and seed the tomatoes: Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Using a small serrated knife, carve an X on the bottom of each tomato to facilitate removal of the skin. Add the tomatoes to the boiling water for 1-2 minutes until the skins crack, and place in the ice water for one minute. Slip the skins off the tomatoes, slice in half crosswise, and gently squeeze out the seeds. Slice crosswise and set aside.
Prep and sauté the veggies in turn: Halve the onion (from stem and root), then slice into ¼-inch rounds. Heat a heavy-bottomed flame-proof pot over medium heat. Add three tablespoons of water, along with the onions; prinkle with salt and cover partially to sweat the onions. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring often and adding a tablespoon of water as needed, until translucent and cooked through, but not browned. Add the minced garlic and herbs, and cook about 2 minutes until fragrant; remove to a large bowl. Meanwhile, slice the peppers in half, remove the seeds and inner ribbing, and slice into 1-inch chunks. Proceed in the same manner as with the onions, starting with three tablespoons of water, lightly salting, cover partially, and cook about 5 minutes until liquid is absorbed. After the initial sweat, it is important to cook each vegetable uncovered, in order to evaporate the liquid. Cut zucchini into 1-inch chunks, and repeat cooking method with each remaining vegetable, sautéing them each individually in a little water and removing to the bowl once cooked through. Sauté the tomatoes just briefly, about 2 to 3 minutes, in order to cook out some of the liquid, but avoid overcooking (we don’t want tomato sauce).
Gently toss sautéed vegetables together with the olive oil, if using, bundle of parsley, salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt since the dish will reduce and salt become more concentrated). Cook, uncovered, over a low simmer for 1 ½ hours, stirring only occasionally to ensure that the dish is cooked evenly and does not stick to the pan. Set at room temp at least 30 minutes before serving. Remove the bouquet garni, serve at room temperature or chilled in hot weather.
Pro Tips
Salt the eggplant to disgorge the bitter juices
Peel and seed the tomatoes
Use only the finest Roma tomatoes; Romas are considered the ideal sauce tomato due to the high ratio of flesh to juice, a bonus for ratatouille, since you want to avoid excess liquid.
To avoid crying while cutting onions: Once peeled, rinse the onion with cold water. Slice in the direction of the grain, through the stem and root (rather than across the grain), to lessen the release of sulfuric gasses which can burn the eye.
Sauté each vegetable separately before braising the whole together.
Except for the onions, which are sliced in half rounds, cut the vegetables as uniformly as possible and large enough so that they maintain their shape despite the long cooking time.
Rather than tie the bouquet garni together, it makes a more flavorful dish to sauté the thyme and bay with the garlic, during the last 2 minutes of cooking the onion. Parsley is a more delicate and should be added after the vegetables are put in the pot to stew.
This recipe qualifies for the whole-food plant-based (WFPB) designation, meaning that it is made of only of whole plant foods and does not contain any extracted ingredients, such as sugar or oil, that would damage the body’s endothelium (the inner most lining of the arteries).