Prep time 15 min cook time 20 min
My take on a French classic of a stove top cooked mix of a heartwarming mix of vegetables.
When I was very young, we lived in an apartment in Cairo that had a balcony with lots of flower pots. Armed with a small watering can and a soup spoon, I would spend hours digging small cavities in the mud, fill them with water and stir the mud mixture until I got a creamy texture.
I quickly learned that I could get different consistencies by varying the proportions of water to earth and acquired the skill to make mud balls. I am not sure if that had anything to do with my passion for cooking and mixing up various ingredients and proportions but it may have.
Cooking to me is a process of satisfying all the senses, a way of reliving past memories and a journey through different cultures. It taught me the differences of each as well as the similarities. For example, most cultures I have encountered in Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East have for centuries embraced vegetables as a main source of nutrition either for taste, health or economic reasons and have come up with creative ways to make them very enjoyable.
In summer, vegetables are best enjoyed grilled with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon and maybe a hint of a fresh herb.
In the fall and winter, you may need something a little more substantial, like Ratatouille, a simple one-pan vegetable stew that is one of the first dishes I learned to cook. The mixture of tangy aubergines, sweet peppers and courgettes bound together with a fresh tomato sauce and a fragrant Herbes de Provence mix conjures up for me all that is good about the sunny Mediterranean.
Now before you poo poo this dish as unoriginal or boring, it is one of those recipes ( like a Sicilian Caponata) that keeps on giving. If you make a large batch you can refrigerate it for a week or freeze it. You can have it as an appetizer or side dish. You can have it as a meal on its own with crusty bread or on rice or bulgur wheat. You can serve it on a pasta of your choice and with any leftovers, have it for brunch on a toasted ciabatta bread topped with a fried egg.
The recipe is a simple one that involves stewing vegetables, adding them to the pan at different intervals to allow for the fact that each takes a slightly different time to cook. You want to end up with some firmness to the vegetables and avoid any mushiness. Here’s my take on the dish that takes a little over thirty minutes to prep and cook.
Ratatouille
by
Derek Farwagi
Equipment
- A 10 inch skillet or non stick frying pan.
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small, peeled Italian (the round kind) eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes you can also use two long, thin, and sliced Chinese eggplants that won't need peeling.
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3-4 sliced garlic cloves
- 1 sweet yellow pepper, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3 ripe medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1 generous tsp dried Herbes de Provence mix You can buy that ready mixed from most supermarkets or you can make it yourself. *See note below.
- 1 tsp dried chile flakes optional
- Salt to Taste
Instructions
- To make peeling tomatoes easier, put them in a small pot of boiling water and let stand while you chop up the other vegetables
- Wash and cut up the vegetables.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add cubed eggplant to the pan, and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden. Add a bit more oil if the eggplant absorbs all the oil and sticks to the bottom of the pan. Remove the eggplant when done and set aside.
- In the same pot, pour in 2 more tablespoons olive oil. Add onions and cook for about 7 minutes, or until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, dried chile flakes, and a bit more salt.
- Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then stir in yellow pepper. Cook for a few more minutes, then stir in zucchini. Cook for a few more minutes.
- Peel and chop the tomatoes, disolve tomato paste in a half a cup of water and add both to pan.
- Add the Herbes de Provence mix then stir in eggplant and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more, until all the vegetables are soft. Adjust the seasoning with salt.
- Drizzle more extra virgin olive oil to taste and serve.
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