Dish – “Ratatouille” from zucchini and eggplant: step-by-step classic recipe in the oven
Such a famous dish as “Ratatouille” belongs to French cuisine. It is prepared from vegetables and served hot. The main ingredients of the dish are:
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- bell pepper
- Tomato
- Onion
“Ratatouille” is an unusually simple dish, but tasty at the same time. In terms of its taste, it is more reminiscent of lecho. An interesting fact is that this recipe was very common among the poor French population of the 17th century, since they could not afford meat and ate vegetables.
INTERESTING: Literally translated, the word “ratatouille” sounds like “bad food” only because it was the food of the “lower classes”, but this name in no way characterizes the taste of the dish.
There are several variations of “ratatouille” in world cuisine, for example, Italians prepare “caponata”, and “Pista” is common in Spain. Hungary is famous for its national “lecho”, and among the Slavic peoples a similar dish is usually called “vegetable stew”. Only when you meticulously follow all the conditions for preparing ratatouille will you be able to get an original and even aristocratic dish, which is often found on the menu of expensive Michelin-starred restaurants.
What you need to prepare for the original recipe:
- Tomatoes (tomatoes) – up to 4 pcs. (depending on their size and shape).
- Eggplant – 1 large fruit (preferably smooth and not overripe).
- Zucchini – 1 pc. (a large fruit; in the absence of zucchini, it can be replaced with zucchini).
- Onion – 1 large head (blue or white)
- Garlic – 1 small head
- Spices: thyme, rosemary, sea salt, pepper mixture (2-3 pinches each).
IMPORTANT: The dish must be prepared with a mixture of olive oil and butter.
How to cook:
- Before you start placing vegetables in a mold and starting to prepare the dish, you should warm up the oven well - this is one of the important conditions for proper preparation of the dish.
- For baking, you need to choose the right shape. It should not have sides that are too high or too low. A ceramic or glass mold is suitable (Teflon too, but not detachable; the dish should be served in the container in which it was baked).
- Grease the mold generously with a piece of butter (it is important that the vegetables do not burn or burn in contact with the mold, otherwise it will ruin the taste of the dish).
- First, take the onion and garlic, you can chop them in any way, place the chopped vegetables on the bottom of the mold and distribute them evenly, stirring.
- Next you need to sprinkle the onions and garlic with spices, in particular thyme and rosemary (you can use fresh or dried).
- The main vegetables (zucchini, eggplant and tomato) are cut into thin slices with a knife or slicer.
- Vegetable slices are laid out alternately, one by one, without repeating.
- It is important that each vegetable has the same cut pattern and thickness.
- If you have any leftover spices, you can also place them between the vegetables.
- Then generously sprinkle the arranged vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Cover the mold with foil and the dish can be baked. Baking requires no more than 40 minutes, provided that the temperature in the oven is not high (170-180 degrees is enough).
- After 40 minutes, remove the foil and put the vegetables back in the oven, keep them there for another 40-50 minutes, making sure that their edges do not burn.
IMPORTANT: “Ratatouille” must be served hot on the appetizer table before the main courses.
Serve ratatouille in portions
Oven baked ratatouille with eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes
Well, usually, while the sauce is preparing and standing on the stove for 10 minutes, I’m busy chopping the rest of the vegetables for the dish. So you can do the same, cutting everything in stages as you go through the cooking process. Or prepare and chop all the ingredients at once before turning on the stove, as I showed at the beginning.
It is advisable to select zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes of the same size in diameter.
Step 13. Cut the vegetables into thin circles, 2 - 3 millimeters - this way they will look more beautiful and bake faster. You can use a shredder, which comes in addition to attachments for Korean carrots or French fries. I cut it with a knife and it turned out well too.
Step 14. Cut the eggplants and tomatoes into the same thin rings.
If the eggplants are bitter, you need to sprinkle them with salt first so that the bitterness goes away. Then rinse and dry. However, now almost all eggplants are without bitterness and I don’t do this.
Step 15. So, we have all the ingredients and vegetable sauce prepared. Take a baking dish and put the sauce on the bottom. There is no need to lubricate anything.
Step 16. Distribute the sauce evenly over the surface and begin to assemble the main dish.
Step 17. Place vegetables on top of the sauce, alternating them with each other. Zucchini - eggplant - tomato. And we repeat again.
Step 18. Now place the stack on the surface.
In my opinion, this dish looks best in a round shape, but this time I have one. Therefore, you can do it this way.
And yet, although this is not important, I decided to lay out the vegetables in a circle. We continue laying until everything cut fits.
Don't be afraid to lift or move the structure in places to get everything out. I squeezed even the smallest pieces into the remaining voids or between other slices.
Don't throw away the good stuff!
