Ratatouille is a dish of rural Provencal cuisine made of tomatoes, onions, eggplants and zucchini with herbs. In fact, this is a simple, vegetable stew, but the French managed to cook it in such a way that over the years the food not only hit the tables of the aristocracy, but also took place in the menu of the best restaurants.
Real ratatouille
Since ratatouille arose as a simple, peasant dish, it does not and cannot have a single recipe, but only a cooking tradition. In cookbooks, various ratatouille recipes began to appear in the late 19th century, and although the main ingredients of the dish can be called more or less well-established, the technology is still hotly debated.
So the famous Julia Childe, the author of many cult books on French cooking, believed that ratatouille should be cooked by frying eggplants and zucchini separately, and from onions, garlic, peppers and tomatoes to prepare a sauce, under which vegetables should be baked in the oven as a final touch. Jules Roubochon, a French chef titled as influential restaurant guide Millau, chef of the century, believed that the secret of a good ratatouille is to cook all vegetables separately, letting them show their full flavor, and only at the very end you need to mix them together in a stew …
Proponents of traditional French cooking dispute the opinion of authorities, citing common sense. The peasants did not have much time to engage in complex gastronomic delights, and ovens in Provencal kitchens of that time were very rare. Most likely, the recipe should be recognized as a real one, where many chopped vegetables are stewed all over the place, with the carelessness characteristic of the generous Gallic cuisine. The food should be satisfying and it should be in excess so that the next day the hostess can include its remnants in the menu. And, of course, the recipe that suggests stewing vegetables for a long time should be recognized as traditional. After all, this is a big plus when you can put the pan on the stove at lunchtime and slowly go about your business, and then have a delicious, hearty, hot dinner.
In contrast to purists, many gourmets say that it is impossible now to cook ratatouille the way it was prepared in the village - there are no conditions, products, so you need to try to achieve the most authentic taste with the help of modern cooking technologies.
The recipe for the perfect ratatouille
For a perfect ratatouille, you will need:
- 2 red bell peppers;
- 1 medium onion head;
- 8 large ripe tomatoes;
- 5 cloves of garlic;
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil;
- 3 sprigs of thyme;
- 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves;
- 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar;
- 3 zucchini zucchini (green and yellow);
- 1 eggplant;
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Cut the top of four tomatoes crosswise, dip them in boiling water for 30 minutes, then remove the skin, remove the seeds and cut the pulp into cubes, drain the juice into a separate container. Chop the zucchini, eggplant, the remaining tomatoes into thin slices. Cut the onion into small cubes. Cut the peppers in half, remove the seeds and jumpers, and place them, notch down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place it in an oven preheated to 220 ° C and bake until the skin is blistered. Remove the peppers and leave the oven on, but cool to 140 ° C.
While the peppers are cooking, fry the onion in two tablespoons of olive oil in a deep frying pan until transparent, add 3 chopped cloves of garlic. Add tomato juice and leftover chopped tomatoes. Add thyme sprigs and simmer until most of the juices have evaporated.
Peel the peppers and cut the flesh into cubes. Place the pepper in a saucepan, remove the thyme sprigs, pour in the vinegar and stir. Pour the resulting sauce into the bottom of a deep baking dish, lay the sliced vegetables in layers. Toss the garlic clove with the thyme leaves and the remaining olive oil and drizzle on top. Cover the tin with foil on top, place the dish in the oven and simmer for 2-3 hours, until the vegetables begin to pierce with a knife like soft butter.
Remove the foil and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve with homemade garlic bread. Ratatouille can be either a side dish or a main dish.
