Easy Ratatouille Recipe

The classic French ratatouille recipe includes bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, tomotoes, onions, garlic and fresh herbs. It can be served in any number of ways, both hot and cold. Try it as topping for pasta or a filling in an omelet. Or just eat it by itself with a loaf of French bread for a Provencal inspired meal.

Recipe Notes

I was cooking this ratatouille recipe long before I moved to France and realized it had an official name - I called it vegetarian spaghetti sauce. I would put a large skillet on the burner, pour in olive oil, and start chopping whatever vegetables I had found at their peak in the grocery store. I'd add each vegetable as I finished cutting it up and I soon learned the best order to do my chopping in.

Fancy French Ratatouille Recipe

My Larousse de la Cuisine gives a recipe for ratatouille that involves peeling tomatoes and cooking each vegetable separately before assembling them in another pan. I've never done it this way and most French people wouldn't bother either. It's supposed to be an easy dish.

Humble Origins

Ratatouille originated in the south of France, and some say in the city of Nice itself. It features the vegetables you'd be likely to find in a potager in the middle of summer: eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and tomatoes as well as the fresh herbs you'd find growing alongside. I imagine someone in the south of France walking out their kitchen door and into their vegetable garden on a hot summer afternoon. There they find all the fresh ingredients they need for their evening ratatouille.

Ratatouille

1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, slivered
3 bell peppers, cut into one inch squares(try different colors)
2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Sliver onions and add to oil.
While the onions cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.
Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat the eggplant with oil. At this point all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep things from burning until they soften some.
Chop the zucchini and stir it in once the eggplant has softened a bit.
Chop the garlic and add to the vegetables, stirring well.
Chop the tomatoes and add them.
Mince the thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cook two minutes.
Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended - about 40 minutes.
Stir in basil and remove from heat.

4 to 6 servings

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Further Exploration . . .

For a more elegant presentation, cook the vegetables separately then layer them in a terrine dish. Refrigerate and serve cold, perhaps topped with a homemade tomato coulis.