Ratatouille is a dish very popular in Nice, France. A lot of people found out about this, now popular dish, from the Ratatouille movie. We are glad that this luxurious, yet cheap dish was found on the shopping lists. That’s why we bring you the most satisfying recipe. Something like this must not go unnoticed. The main ingredient of this wonderful dish is vegetables, so you can make it as a main dish for lunch or dinner. In addition to lunch or dinner, the dish can also be served as an appetizer, cold or hot. If you prepare it the day before, you have a dish ready that will knock you off your feet. Those who have eaten it say it is even better the next day. This colorful dish will be eaten even by children. Colors are the answer – if it’s colorful, kids will enjoy it. Some of the ingredients that must be in this dish are zucchini, peppers (preferably in color, for a nicer look), tomatoes, and eggplant. These are just some of the ingredients, there’s a lot more going on – and tell you all about it below in the recipe.
In addition to the recipe, we would like to show you how much this vegetable means to your body and health.
Nutritional value of ingredients for the preparation of Ratatouille
For example, peppers are rich in B vitamins (B1 to B12), A, K, D, and E, which clearly shows how much you get from just one pepper. There is also iron, zinc, copper, … there really is everything. Eggplant is rich in fiber, which will boost your digestive system. Also, eggplants that, we can dare say, must be used in the Ratatouille recipe, help in weight loss. They do not contain cholesterol and fats, so it is the perfect food for losing extra pounds while keeping you full. Eggplants have a lot of nutritional properties, but let’s move on. Zucchini is rich in antioxidants that will keep your immune system up. In addition, they are full of vitamin A, which will give health to your eyes. They also contribute to cardiovascular health, lower blood sugar, contribute to weight loss, … Foods rich in nutritionally strong ingredients, tasty and easy to process. They just need to be washed and chopped. Simple, yet effective. I think we all strive for that, don’t we? Read the rest of the ingredients and the preparation of the Ratatouille recipe below.
Ingredients needed for Ratatouille preparation and initial preparation
3dl mashed tomatoes
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 carrot
2 roasted peppers (you can, after washing and removing the seeds, bake on the stove on the fire)
1 zucchini (green)
1 zucchini (yellow)
1 larger eggplant
3 tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon hot pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
Basil
Oil
Peel the onion and garlic. Cut the onion into small cubes to simmer as nicely as possible, and cut the garlic into slices. Also, wash the carrots and peel the top thin layer. Cut the carrot in half and then cut it into small cubes. Wash the peppers and cut them in half, remove the seeds and keep the inside of the peppers completely clean. Place the peppers on an open flame on the stove until they get a black crust on the portions. Put the onion in a pan on which you have put a few drops of oil. When the onions are fried (see this according to the golden color of the onions), add the garlic and carrots. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes so that the vegetables wither, feel free to season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with water so that the vegetables do not burn. After the vegetables are fried, add the roasted peppers. Fry for a while longer and add the mashed tomatoes. Once you’ve added the mashed tomatoes, your dish starts to get the color of the Ratatouille dish. Add the spices slowly; salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Mix everything. In 15 minutes you will be able to take a stick mixer and blend everything to get a thick soup. You can also use a blender instead of a stick mixer. If you don’t have either of those two, feel free to let the vegetables boil and you’ll get the same thick soup.
Final stacking of Ratatouille in the mold
Once you have the desired density of soup for Ratatouille with blender, stick mixer, or by longer cooking, the “hardest” part follows. All the vegetables you have left, then; zucchini, yellow and green, tomatoes and eggplant, need to be washed thoroughly. Cut off all the stalks and ends of the vegetables. Cut zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes into thin rings. It is very important to have a sharp knife to have neat and thin rings. If the knife is not sharp, you will get uneven and, most likely, thick rings that will not give the same flavor to the Ratatouille dish. The reels should, for best results, be up to 3-4 mm thick.
When you have sliced everything, the stacking starts. It would be best to use a round mold, 36cm in diameter. Pour the thick vegetable soup (not all of it, you need to save it for more layers) into a mold lined with baking paper. Then arrange the vegetables in a circle. It would be best to arrange the vegetables by color, which is the point of Ratatouille dishes. Go in order; eggplant, yellow zucchini, tomato, green zucchini, and so on in a circle.
When you have finished the first layer of vegetables, pour more sauce and repeat the whole process until you run out of ingredients. If you are short of vegetables, feel free to prepare some more zucchini, eggplant, or tomatoes. When you get to the end of the stacking, finish the Ratatouille story with a few drops of olive oil and 2-3 cloves of garlic, as desired. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius and cover the mold with foil. Bake for about 1 hour at that temperature and then remove the foil and increase the temperature to create a surface crust on the vegetables.
Tips and tricks for Ratatouille dish
- If you want an even creamier Ratatouille, make Bechamel sauce using butter, milk, flour and spices. If you want an even richer taste of Bechamel sauce, feel free to put parmesan in it as well. You can pour this sauce over the vegetables when you remove the foil. Different option is pouring it over the thick vegetables soup in each row, over the vegetables.
- If you think you would like it, feel free to add some bacon for a stronger smell and taste. The bacon will not take on the flavor but it will provide with nice flair to the Ratatouille dish.
- This dish is completely safe for vegetarians and vegans because it is a vegetable. Do not add bechamel sauce and bacon or use substitutes to serve vegans / vegetarians. Celiacs will also enjoy the Ratatouille dish, it is completely safe. Vegetables are gluten-free, and if you want to use bechamel sauce, use gluten-free flour.
- If you have a cutter for dried meat products, it could be great for cutting vegetables. In this way, the vegetables will be of equal thickness, which will facilitate the whole stacking process.
Enjoy your meal!
