Ratatouille Recipe

A great ratatouille is more of an exercise in patience than a feat of skill or a laborious task. With a couple of sheet pans, a dutch oven, and a couple of hours, you can pull together a delightful, nutritious stew that really showcases the flavors of our summer vegetables. 

The key things to remember with this dish are caramelization, time, and generous amounts of good olive oil. These elements are essential to developing the robust flavor and melt-in-your-mouth quality that really makes a good ratatouille. 

This dish can be a great side or main course, and is delicious hot or cold. It only gets better with time, so make a large batch and enjoy it all week long. I like to serve mine with shredded cheese from Mountain View Farm, a little pain du campagne from Flour Garden Bakery, and a glass of Cotes du Rhone. 

Ingredients: 

• Olive Oil
• Eggplant
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes
• Green Peppers
• Onion
• Garlic
• Tomato Paste
• Fresh Herbs

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
• Assemble your ingredients. The essential pieces to this dish are eggplant, summer squash, tomato, pepper, onion & garlic. From there you can add on; mushrooms can be a good addition, but for this pot I have included fresh basil from Flores Farm and some thyme and rosemary from my own garden.

• Dice and salt your eggplant with kosher salt. This is especially important when using eggplant that is not from the grocery store; as the variety may still retain some bitterness. Not only that, but similar to salting meats, salting your eggplant seasons the flesh throughout the cut pieces. 

• Let the eggplant marinate for 30 min or so. Blot gently with a towel. Toss with a generous amount of olive oil. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet. 

• Chop tomatoes, peppers, squash, and toss with salt and plenty of olive oil. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet. 

• Put both trays in the oven to bake for 30-45 min. It is essential to get some golden caramel brown on all the veggies, it really brings out the flavor. Don’t be afraid to pop them in the broiler if it’s not browning!

• When they are finished baking, reduce oven heat to 300 degrees.
• Chop your onions & herbs. I prefer to do a rough chop for the basil and mince for the thyme and rosemary. Mince your garlic. 

• On the stovetop, caramelize your onions in the dutch oven. Once they are a light golden brown, toss in your garlic and sauté lightly for another minute.

• Pull the onions off the heat and add your herbs, canned tomato, and roasted veggies. Tooey 13

• Fold all together and place in oven, uncovered, for another 30-45 min.
• Serve with shredded cheese.