How To Make Ratatouille Recipes

RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit with one rack in the middle of the oven and one in the upper third of the oven. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up, if desired.
• To prepare your tomatoes, remove any woody cores with a paring knife. Then, grate them on the large holes of a box grater into a bowl (this is easiest if you hold the tomato at a diagonal), and chop any remaining tomato skin. Or, blitz the tomatoes in a food processor until they are broken into a frothy pulp. Set aside.
• On one baking sheet, toss the diced eggplant with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until lightly coated. Arrange the eggplant in a single layer across the pan, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and set aside.
• On the other baking sheet, toss the bell pepper, zucchini and yellow squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer. Place the eggplant pan on the middle rack and the other vegetables on the top rack. Set the timer for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, warm 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender and caramelizing on the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add the garlic, stir, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, and use a wooden spoon or sturdy silicone spatula to stir any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan into the mixture. Reduce the heat to medium-low, or as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer.
• Once 15 minutes are up, remove both pans from the oven, stir, and redistribute the contents of each evenly across the pans. This time, place the eggplant on the top rack and other vegetables on the middle rack.
• Bake until the eggplant is nice and golden on the edges, about 10 more minutes (the eggplant will be done sooner than the rest). Remove the eggplant from the oven, and carefully stir the eggplant into the simmering tomato sauce.
• Let the squash and bell pepper pan continue to bake until the peppers are caramelized, about 5 to 10 more minutes. Then, transfer the contents of the pan into the simmering sauce. Continue simmering for 5 more minutes to give the flavors time to meld.
• Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon olive oil, the fresh basil and red pepper flakes. Crumble the dried oregano between your fingers as you drop it into the pot. Season to taste with additional salt (I usually add 1/4 teaspoon more) and black pepper.
• Serve in bowls, perhaps with a little drizzle of olive oil, additional chopped basil, or black pepper on top (all optional). Like all stews, this ratatouille's flavor improves as it cools. It's even better reheated the next day. Ratatouille keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 4 days, or for several months in the freezer.

DISNEY'S RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Spread tomato paste into the bottom of a 10x10-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with onion and garlic and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil and water until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and black pepper.
• Arrange alternating slices of eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper, starting at the outer edge of the dish and working concentrically towards the center. Overlap the slices a little to display the colors. Drizzle the vegetables with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with thyme leaves. Cover vegetables with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.
• Bake in the preheated oven until vegetables are roasted and tender, about 45 minutes. Serve with dollops of mascarpone cheese.

THE BEST EASY BAKED RATATOUILLE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Combine all sauce ingredients in a blender. Puree until smooth. If needed, adjust salt and pepper to taste.
• Spread the sauce in a thin layer in a round or oval casserole dish, about 1.5 quart (1.5 liters) in size.
• Arrange the tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and onion in a spiral, alternating them. (You'll want the eggplant slices cut into quarters so that they are similar size to the tomato, zucchini and onion slices.) Drizzle with olive oil on top, and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
• Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until veggies are tender and sauce is bubbly at the edges.

CLASSIC RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Prep your ingredients before you start - peel and cut the onions into wedges, then peel and finely slice the garlic. Trim the aubergines and courgettes, deseed the peppers and chop into 2.5cm chunks. Roughly chop the tomatoes. Pick the basil leaves and set aside, then finely slice the stalks.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large casserole pan or saucepan over a medium heat, add the chopped aubergines, courgettes and peppers (you may need to do this in batches) and fry for around 5 minutes, or until golden and softened, but not cooked through. Spoon the cooked veg into a large bowl.
• To the pan, add the onion, garlic, basil stalks and thyme leaves with another drizzle of oil, if needed. Fry for 10 to 15 minutes, or until softened and golden.
• Return the cooked veg to the pan and stir in the fresh and tinned tomatoes, the balsamic and a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
• Mix well, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Cover the pan and simmer over a low heat for 30 to 35 minutes, or until reduced, sticky and sweet.
• Tear in the basil leaves, finely grate in the lemon zest and adjust the seasoning, if needed. Serve with a hunk of bread or steamed rice.

EASY RATATOUILLE RECIPE

Steps:

• Place eggplant pieces in a large colander over your sink. Sprinkle with salt. Leave for 20 minutes as the eggplant sweats out its bitterness. Pat dry to remove water and excess salt.
• In a large heavy pot or Dutch Oven, heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onions. Cook, stirring regularly, until translucent (about 5 minutes). Now add the red peppers and green peppers, cook for another 4 minutes, and continue to stir.
• Add the garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, wine, and fresh thyme springs. Stir in black pepper, paprika, and rosemary. Season with kosher salt.
• Raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Turn the heat down then cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or so.
• Remove the ratatouille from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Add the sherry vinegar and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Top with fresh basil.
• To serve, transfer the ratatouille to dinner bowls, top each with a fried egg (sunny-side up) and add crusty bread on the side. (See Cook's Tip)

TRADITIONAL FRENCH RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place a single layer of paper towels on 2 large plates. Put the cubed eggplant onto the plates and sprinkle with 1 3/4 teaspoons of the salt. Allow the eggplant to sit for 20 minutes; this process is known as degorgement , in which the salt extracts liquid from the eggplant, and the liquid is then absorbed by the paper, making the dish less soggy.
• In a large saucepan, gently cook the tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, basil, and parsley, uncovered, over medium heat. Do not boil the vegetables, as this will turn them into a soggy mess; cooked slowly, each of the vegetables will remain distinct.
• In a large skillet, sauté the onions and bell peppers in a small amount of olive oil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are lightly browned. Remove the skillet from the heat, and transfer the browned vegetables to the tomato mixture.
• Pat the eggplant dry with a fresh paper towel and add it along with the zucchini and yellow squash to the tomato mixture.
• Cover the pot and cook the stew over low-medium heat for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the white wine and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Enjoy.

RATATOUILLE RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven for 375˚F (190˚C).
• Slice the eggplant, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini into approximately ¹⁄₁₆-inch (1-mm) rounds, then set aside.
• Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch (30-cm) oven-safe pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, and bell peppers until soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add the crushed tomatoes. Stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Remove from heat, then add the basil. Stir once more, then smooth the surface of the sauce with a spatula.
• Arrange the sliced veggies in alternating patterns, (for example, eggplant, tomato, squash, zucchini) on top of the sauce from the outer edge to the middle of the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
• Make the herb seasoning: In a small bowl, mix together the basil, garlic, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Spoon the herb seasoning over the vegetables.
• Cover the pan with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, then bake for another 20 minutes, until the vegetables are softened.
• Serve while hot as a main dish or side. The ratatouille is also excellent the next day--cover with foil and reheat in a 350˚F (180˚C) oven for 15 minutes, or simply microwave to desired temperature.
• Enjoy!

EASY RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Dice the aubergine, courgette and pepper into 3cm chunks. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole or deep frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the onion for 10 mins until soft and translucent. Add the chopped veg, turn the heat to high and fry for another 10 mins until softened.
• Stir the garlic into the pan, and toss everything together, frying for 1 min more. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, plus half a can of water (200ml), the dried herbs and the chopped basil. Simmer for 20 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the veg is tender and the tomatoes are thick and coating the veg. Season and add the vinegar and sugar to balance the sweet and acidity of the tomatoes. Scatter with the basil leaves, and serve with rustic bread, or pasta.

RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Cut the aubergines into quarters lengthways, then cut the quarters into 2.5cm/1in slices. Cut the courgettes into 2.5cm/1in slices. De-seed the peppers and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
• To peel the tomatoes, score a cross in the base of each tomato and place them in a heatproof bowl. Pour over enough boiling water to cover and set aside for one minute. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel away the skins. Roughly chop the flesh.
• Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish and add the onions. Cook over a gentle heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown and very tender. Add the aubergines and courgettes, increase the heat slightly and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the peppers, garlic, sugar, some salt and pepper and half the basil and mix well. Cover and cook over a very gentle heat for 20 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook for a further 10 minutes. Scatter the ratatouille with the remaining basil and serve.

RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir garlic until lightly browned. Mix in parsley and eggplant. Cook and stir until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
• Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Vegetables are the bedrock of French cuisine, the foundation upon which all is built. Although cooking bibles like "The Escoffier Cookbook" and "Larousse Gastronomique" may not have as many recipes centering on artichokes and carrots as they do on chicken or beef, it is only because vegetables suffuse the canon and the kitchen, from the broths and sauces that serve as the base of elaborate dishes, to the garnishes that finish them.But there are a handful of dishes where vegetables are the stars. Ratatouille is beloved for its silky, olive oil-imbued vegetables, which are saturated with the summery scents of garlic and herbs. By mastering it, you will gain not only deeper insights into how to cook the vegetables in the recipe, but you will also be able to apply that knowledge to other vegetables, making you a better cook all around.Unlike much of French cuisine, ratatouille does not have a set recipe or precise technique. There are as many versions as there are cooks, each slightly different in method and ingredients.The most traditional recipes call for cooking each vegetable separately in a pot on the stove until well browned, layering everything back into the pot with a generous amount of olive oil and some tomatoes, and then letting it all slowly stew. Most cooks agree that this is the best way to ensure that the vegetables are cooked to perfection before all are combined, and the flavors left to meld.However, all that standing at the stove stirring vegetables can become tedious. Even "Larousse Gastronomique" discards that method in its official recipe, throwing everything into the same pan in stages without the benefit of that individual browning.But there is another, better way around the tedium: using your oven. This is what many contemporary French cooks do, and it's the method on which our recipe is based. All the vegetables are bathed in olive oil and roasted separately on baking pans until well browned. Then they're mixed together in one pan, covered with more oil and some tomato, and cooked again until everything condenses in flavor and practically falls apart, soaking up the good oil and tomato almost like a confit.That time spent steeping in good oil makes ratatouille one of the rare vegetable dishes that improves as it sits. It is best made in advance, and you can be flexible with the way you cook it, roasting the vegetables in stages as time allows, then combining them all even days later. It is also wonderfully versatile at the table, making a fine starter, side dish or main course, one that can be eaten warm, at room temperature or cold.
• A slowly cooked stew of eggplant, onions, peppers, summer squash and tomatoes has been simmering on hearths around the Mediterranean since the 16th century, when tomatoes, peppers and squash from the Americas met the eggplant, onion and olive oil already in residence.This basic combination of summer vegetables takes different forms throughout the region. In Catalonia, it is simmered until it is almost jamlike and called samfaina. In Turkey, it is known as turlu and may also contain potatoes, okra and green beans. Lebanon, Egypt and Greece all have versions. In Provençe, it is scented with herbs and garlic and called ratatouille.The term, which came into use in the 19th century, is derived from the French verbs ratouiller and tatouiller, both meaning to stir up. And the pleasing, percussive-sounding word captures the essence of this dish: a stirring of several vegetables that have been cooked separately before being combined.Originally, a ratatouille could be any kind of simple or coarse stew. It could include meat, or it could do without it. Nineteenth-century French military slang referred to the dish as a "rata." The first written mentions of the all-vegetable stew from Nice that we know today, also called sauté à la Niçoise, came in the early 20th century.But by 1930, ratatouille had become entrenched in the Provençal repertoire. Henri Heyraud, the author of "La Cuisine à Nice," described it as a ragoût of eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. The use of the word ragoût here is fitting; it means to revive the taste, which is exactly what ratatouille does, giving cooked vegetables and herbs new verve when they are combined and cooked again.As Provençal cuisine became fashionable all over France (and to a lesser degree in Britain and the United States) in the latter part of the 20th century, the popularity of ratatouille grew. It has since become a summer staple to serve with simple grilled meats, or as a main course in its own right, with the requisite bottle of rosé.Above, "Still Life With Flowers and Vegetables" by Caravaggio (1571-1610).
• Sharp knives You need a chef's knife and paring knife to prepare the vegetables. And a well-sharpened knife will make all that chopping go noticeably faster than a dull knife.Baking sheets The vegetables in this ratatouille are roasted individually before they are all combined. Ideally, you will have at least four large rimmed metal baking sheets for doing so. You can get away with fewer, but you will need to cook the vegetables in batches.Large baking dish You could heap all of the vegetables onto a baking sheet when it is time to cook them together. But a large, shallow, attractive casserole that can travel straight to the table is an appealing way to serve the dish.Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has guides to the best chef's knives, paring knives, baking sheets and casserole dishes.
• In our version of this classic Provençal dish, vegetables are covered in olive oil and roasted separately, then together, until they collapse into a soft, herb-scented stew. Ratatouille takes time to prepare and tastes better the next day, so plan ahead. For that reason, it's an ideal make-ahead dish for a gathering.
• There are many ways you can cut the vegetables for ratatouille, but a combination of slices, rounds and spears gives the stew an attractive look and some textural contrast. (Brush up on your technique with our guide to basic knife skills.) Eggplant is like the meat of the ratatouille, adding a savory heft and richness.You can use any type of eggplant you like, though if the skin is tough and leathery, consider peeling it first. If you'd prefer to keep the skin on, which gives ratatouille a nice texture, look for tender, young, thin-skinned eggplant. In France, cooks often use large Italian purple-black eggplants. But you can also use graffiti, Japanese, Chinese or white eggplant varieties, or use a combination of them for the most interesting and diverse texture.To prepare the eggplants, slice off the top and bottom from each. Lay an eggplant on its side and cut it in half, then cut it into 1-inch chunks or spears. Repeat with remaining eggplant.Peppers give a jammy sweetness and fruitiness to the stew pot. Choose a combination of red, yellow and orange bell peppers, or other sweet peppers. Green bell peppers, which are harvested earlier than the red, orange and yellow ones, have a more pungent, grassy flavor and less sweetness; they are not what you want for ratatouille.To prepare the peppers, lay one on its side and slice off the top and bottom. Halve the pepper, remove the seeds and cut out the white veins. Slice into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Repeat with remaining peppers. Alternatively, after trimming and seeding the peppers, you can cut them into 1/4-inch thick rounds.Zucchini is soft, sweet and very succulent when slowly stewed in a ratatouille.You can use any variety of zucchini you find - the fresher, the better. A mix of colors (yellow, dark green and pale green) makes for a particularly pretty dish. Always keep the skins on zucchini, or they will completely fall apart as they cook.To prepare the zucchini, slice off the tops and bottoms. Lay each zucchini on its side. Cutting horizontally, slice into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.Onions add a caramelized sweetness to ratatouille. Large Spanish onions or white onions (which have a high water content and some bite) are best here. Keep in mind that as the onions cook, they sweeten, so unless you want a particularly sweet ratatouille, avoid red onions, Vidalias and other high-sugar onions.To prepare the onions, halve them from the stem to the root, then peel. Next, lay them flat. For ratatouille, aim for 1/4-inch-thick slices - that is, unless you want more pronounced onion pieces in the dish, in which case you can cut thicker pieces. The thicker the slices, the longer the onions will take to roast.
• Ratatouille is a freer and easier recipe than much of what you'll find in the canon of French cuisine, requiring you to spend more time choosing the ingredients than actually fiddling with them. That said, there are some techniques that will help you get the most deeply flavored dish. Blanching tomatoes helps loosen the skin, making them easier to peel without losing any of their precious, sweet juices. The trick is remove them from the boiling water before their flesh is cooked. You want to cook only the skin.Choose tomatoes that are ripe but still firm; soft tomatoes won't hold up to the peeling and blanching. You can use any variety as long as it is flavorful and sweet. However, using large round tomatoes rather than small plum tomatoes makes the blanching, peeling and seeding go more quickly.To begin, bring a medium pot of water to a boil. One at a time, drop the whole tomatoes into the boiling water. Cover and let boil for 10 seconds. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, immediately remove the tomatoes from the pot and plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Hold a cooled tomato in your hand and use a small paring knife to cut out the stem. From there, you can start to peel the skin. It should slip right off.Cut the peeled tomato in half around its equator. Set up a bowl with a mesh sieve sitting on top. Squeeze the tomato halves over the sieve so the seeds are caught in the mesh and the juices pool in the bowl. The seeds should slip out easily, but you can use your fingers to pry any stubborn ones from the tomato flesh. Discard the seeds in the sieve. Dice the tomato pulp and add it to the bowl with their juices. Repeat peeling and seeding with the remaining tomatoes.• When you are making ratatouille, the quality of the olive oil is as important as that of the vegetables. Make sure to choose a good extra-virgin oil, preferably from France. You'll be using a lot of it here.• If you don't have four baking sheets, roast the vegetables on individual sheets in succession. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a bowl as they finish cooking. This takes longer, since you can't roast all the vegetables at once. (Likewise, if you can't fit all of the baking sheets into your oven at once, cook them in batches.)• If your ratatouille emerges from the oven with a lot of excess liquid in the pan, pour the liquid into a saucepan and reduce it over the stove. Then add it back to the dish once it is reduced, to take advantage of its flavor.• Try the traditional method: Instead of roasting each vegetable on baking sheets, cook them on the stovetop. Heat your largest skillet on the stove, adding a film of oil, and cook each vegetable separately (and the onions, smashed garlic and herbs together). Cook in batches if necessary, so as not to crowd the pan. (If you crowd the pan, the vegetables will steam rather than brown, and cook unevenly.) As the vegetables soften and brown, transfer them to a bowl. (You can add all the different kinds of cooked vegetables to the same bowl.) Add more oil with each batch of vegetables, and season with salt and pepper as you go. When all of the vegetables are cooked, transfer them back to the skillet, along with the tomatoes, grated garlic and a good dose of olive oil. Simmer, uncovered, until they meld together, about 30 to 45 minutes.• You can make this dish in stages, if that suits your schedule. Roast the vegetables separately a day or two before combining them, and then refrigerate them. When you are ready to return to them, combine with the tomatoes, remaining herbs and oil and cook for at least an hour to finish.• Or make the entire dish ahead. It is best to make your ratatouille one or two days before serving so the flavors have a chance to meld and mellow. Once the dish is cooked and cooled, transfer it to a container, adding a little oil if necessary, and refrigerate for up to five days. When you're ready to serve, bring it to room temperature (this takes about an hour) and drizzle with a tiny bit more olive oil. You can also reheat it on the stove or in the microwave to serve it warm.
• Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
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