Ratatouille Recipe

Find yourself being inspired by a Pixar Parisian rodent called Remy? Me too! This recipe’s faithful to the 2007 film Ratatouille, layering up layer upon layer of colourful slice vegetables on a bed of a rich tomato-roasted pepper based, all topped off with a beurre-rouge (red butter) sauce. It’s fun to make, and will hake you deep into the Parisian kitchen of Gusteau’s restaurant!

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 2.5 hours

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 2

Ingredients

  • Onions - 2

  • Garlic - 4 cloves

  • Red Pepper - 2

  • Baby Tomatoes - 10

  • Passata - 350g

  • Thyme (or Lemon Thyme) - a few sprigs

  • (Optional) bouquet garni - 1

  • Courgettes (Zucchini) - 3

  • Baby Aubergine (Eggplant) - 3

  • Baby potatoes or other similar diameter colourful vegetable e.g. carrots, yellow courgette, etc

  • Butter - 25g

Method

Ratatouille Step One - Pepper Roasting

Heat the oven to 200°C (392°F).

Place the peppers on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake in the oven for c.30-40 minutes, until slightly blackened.

You can continue with step two whilst you’re waiting.

 

Ratatouille Step Two - Onion

Thinly chop the onions and garlic, add to a pan with thy thyme, seasoning and a little oil.

Cook over a low heat until softened (but not browned).

 

Ratatouille Step THree - TOmato

Add to the pan the; tomatoes (thinly sliced), passata, and bouquet garni.

Once the peppers are cooked, allow to cool slightly, remove the skins. Thinly slice the flesh and add to the pan.

Continue to cook over a low heat until the liquid’s reduced by half. Remove from the heat and strain the liquid through a sieve into a bowl (keeping the tomato sauce liquid for later).

Find a wide pan / tray that you’ll cook the ratatouille in and line the base with the solid onion / tomato mix in the sieve.

 

Ratatouille Step Four - Layering Up

Pre-heat the oven to 120°C (248°F).

Thinly slice the vegetables (use a mandolin if you have one).

Layer the vegetables in the pan in a concentric circles, alternating the colours to create a pattern.

 

Ratatouille Step Five - Baked

Cover the vegetables in a layer of baking paper, then seal in foil.

Bake in the oven covered for 2 hours, then remove the foil and baking paper and cook uncovered for another 30 minutes.

 

Ratatouille Step Six - Ratatouille

Ratatouille.jpg

Heat the tomato sauce saved from earlier in a pan with the butter.

Remove the Ratatouille from the oven and arrange on a plate (placing the tomato mix in the centre), top with the tomato-butter sauce.

Top with seasoning and some herbs.

And that’s it, hope you enjoy!