Ratatouille

A go-to favorite in our house!

I'll be honest with you, this dish is a LOT of chopping. Depending on your knife skills and speed, it could take up to 45 minutes to prep all the vegetables. The good news is the hands-on cooking time is quite short. That said, there are lots of short cuts you can take. You can buy pre-cut vegetables and use various kitchen gadgets to mince the garlic, chili, and shallot. It will come out the best if all the vegetables are cut to roughly the same size, but you can always just increase the sautéing time for any vegetables cut larger.

Practicing those knife skills!

This is a great topping for polenta or as a sauce for gluten free pasta. It can also be served as a side dish along with potatoes or starchy vegetables.

The olive oil in this recipe has a big impact on the flavor. While I usually cook with (and generally prefer the taste of) mild olive oil, this is a time to use stronger flavored, good quality olive oil. I like Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil as a good olive oil for a reasonable price.

Peeling and deseeding tomatoes is not my favorite task. That said, I have to admit it improves the flavor (the seeds can add bitterness) and texture (no skins!), but it does not always feel worth the effort. If you are not impressed by this step, you can skip skinning the tomatoes and just scoop out the seeds (or even leave the seeds in) or use canned tomatoes that are already skinned and deseeded.

If you have problems with eating garlic, try de-germing it (as I recommend with all my recipes). The germ is that little sprout-like piece that runs through the middle of the clove. It can be responsible for gastrointestinal upsets caused by garlic and also has a bitter taste in older garlic. To remove the germ, slice off the bottom of the clove and peel it, then cut the clove in half, top to bottom and use the tip of your knife to release the germ. It should come out with little effort.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small eggplants

2 medium zucchini

1 each red, yellow, and green peppers

4 plum tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1 shallot

1 red chili pepper (optional)

2 Tbsp tomato paste

60-120 ml (1/4-1/2 cup) water

25 g fresh basil

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cut eggplant into approximately 1 cm cubes. Put in a colander in the sink or over a bowl and generously sprinkle with salt (don't worry about taste; you'll rinse the salt off before cooking). This removes any bitterness from the skin of the eggplant

2. Cut zucchini to 1 cm cubes. Deseed peppers and cut to 1 cm squares

3. Deskin and deseed tomatoes. To do this, bring a pot of water to boil. Cut out the eye of each tomato (where the stem was attached) and make an X cut at the base. Put tomatoes in boiling water for 20-30 seconds then submerge in ice water to stop the cooking. Once the tomatoes are cool, peel off the skin then cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and roughly chop

4. De-germ garlic. Mince garlic, shallot, and chili

5. Heat a large pan on medium with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add shallot once pan is hot and sauté 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and chili and sauté 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat

6. Heat a separate smaller pan on medium with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add peppers once pan is hot, season with salt, and sauté until begin to color

7. Add peppers to shallot and garlic pan and return to medium heat, stirring regularly

8. In the smaller pan used for the peppers, add another splash of oil. Rinse eggplant and add to pan (be careful of any water splashing off in the hot pan). Season with salt and sauté until begin to color. Add to large pan

9. Add another splash of olive oil to smaller pan then season and sauté zucchini until begin to color. Add to large pan

10. Add tomato paste to large pan and stir thoroughly. Cook 2-3 minutes

11. Add chopped tomatoes and 60 ml cup water. Stir, then cover and allow to simmer on low heat for 10 minutes

12. Finely chop basil. Add to ratatouille. If bottom of the pan is dry, add remaining water. Return cover and simmer another 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft but maintain their shape and some texture. Serve over polenta or pasta

Serves 6 as a sauce or side