Nice's culinary gift to the world: Ratatouille

Ratatouille is the essence of early autumn captured in a single pot.

Tomatoes, eggplant, squash, peppers, onions, garlic and herbs are at their peak of freshness and at their best when it comes to taste.

They are also locally available and often the least costly.

But in America, the dish seems better known as Pixar's animated film by the same name than a dish that delectably melds some of the best crops of the year.

Some think eggplant is to blame. Fat, purplish-black and mushy when cooked, it is perhaps the least-loved vegetable in the US — and it figures prominently in this dish. Some others point to ratatouille's lack of sophistication.

Humble origin

But in some countries, ratatouille has been elevated to staple status.

The dish (from the Occitan ratatolha and the French touiller, meaning to stir) originated in Nice, France, as a peasant dish that made efficient use of the season's bounty.

It turned out to taste good and since then, cooks have incorporated this stewed-vegetable dish into their repertoires.
There are almost as many methods for making the dish as there are names for it.

If you're looking for a simple recipe that doesn't sacrifice flavour for convenience, you may like the one from the food blog Chocolate & Zucchini.

Clotilde Dusoulier, the site's founder, says the recipe is “almost sweet, with a roasted flavour, the texture so rich and pleasing it almost feels like you are eating dessert''.

Ratatouille recipe by Clotilde Dusoulier

Servings: 4

• 2 onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 eggplant
• 1 zucchini
• 2 green peppers
• 8 tomatoes, small
• 2 sprigs rosemary, fresh
• 3 sprigs thyme, fresh
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel and slice the onion and garlic. Rinse the remaining vegetables and trim and slice them.

Rinse the herbs. Combine in an oven-proof dish.

Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to ensure even coating.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

The vegetables should be cooked and there should be cooking juices at the bottom of the pan.

Remove the foil and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until the cooking juices have evaporated and the vegetables have taken on a roasted aspect. Remove the sprigs of herb and serve immediately. It can also be served at room temperature or cold. It gets better the next day and the day after that.

Ratatouille recipe
By blogger Deb Perelman

• 1 cup tomato purée
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tbs olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 eggplant, small
• 1 zucchini, small
• 1 squash, small, yellow
• 1 bell pepper, red, long
• 3 sprigs thyme, fresh
• Goat cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a baking dish, pour tomato purée and spread until evenly distributed. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the purée, stir in 1 tbs olive oil and season the sauce with salt and pepper. Trim the ends off eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash.

Also trim ends off red pepper and remove its core, leaving the edges intact. Cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices.

Arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge of the baking dish to the inside, alternating vegetables.

Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Remove leaves from the thyme sprigs, running them down over the stem.

Sprinkle thyme over the dish. Cover with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

Bake for about 50 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are cooked but not limp.

They should not be brown around the edges and the tomato sauce should be bubbling around them.

Serve with a dab of goat cheese on top and crusty French bread.