Ratatouille

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 1 hour
• total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

2 red bell pepper

1 pound tomato (campari, roma, or vine tomatoes)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large shallot (peeled and roughly cut)

4 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)

½ cup red wine (preferably cabernet sauvignon)

4 sprigs thyme

1 sprig basil

1 teaspoon Kosher salt (fine salt is okay too)

2 teaspoon granulated sugar

Few cracks of black pepper

4-5 roma tomato (cut into ⅛ inch sliced width-wise)

1-2 squash (cut into ⅛ inch sliced width-wise)

1-2 zucchini (cut into ⅛ inch sliced width-wise)

1 Chinese eggplant (or Japanese eggplant, cut into ⅛ inch sliced width-wise)

2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for drizzling)

Kosher salt

Cracked black pepper

Directions

For the red bell pepper:

Prepare a medium heatproof bowl and a lid or cling wrap.

Open flame (gas stovetop) method:Place the red bell peppers directly onto the stovetop range and char the bell peppers on medium high heat. Use a pair of heatproof (preferably metal) tongs to rotate the bell peppers so that as much of the skin gets charred as possible. Be careful, as the charred pepper skin can sometimes flake off and pop and turn into amber in the flame!Oven method:Preheat the oven to 425°F and wrap the red bell pepper in a sheet of aluminum foil. Bake the bell pepper for about 15 to 20 minutes.

While the charred/roasted bell peppers are hot, place them into the prepared bowl and cover the bowl so that the peppers can steam. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.

Then, completely remove the pepper skin and the charred skin by rubbing it in a bowl of water or with the back of a knife. Rinse with water to get rid of any leftover char.

Remove the bell pepper stem and seeds. Then, roughly medium dice the bell peppers. Set aside.

For the tomatoes:

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil enough water to cover the tomatoes entirely.

While the water is heating up, use a pairing knife to remove the core of the tomatoes and make a shallow "X" cut on the bottom of the tomatoes.

Take the boiling water off the heat and place the tomatoes into the water. Let the tomato sit for about 10 to 15 seconds, then remove the tomatoes.

Peel the tomato skin and cut the tomatoes into small pieces. Set aside until needed.

Make the piperade sauce:

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped shallot and garlic and sauté until the shallot starts to look translucent, about 1 minute.

Add the prepared bell peppers, tomatoes, thyme, and basil and sauté for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then, add the red wine. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer.

Let the bell pepper and tomato mixture simmer for about 30 minutes, until at least ¾ of the way reduced. Stir occasionally. Take it off the heat and discard the basil and thyme.

Using a immersion blender (or a regular blender), blend the mixture as smooth as possible. Then, strain the sauce through a sieve to ensure the sauce is smooth.

Pour the sauce back into a saucepan and season with the sugar, salt, and black pepper. Let the sauce reduce on medium low to low heat, until the sauce no longer looks watery and you should be able to draw a line through the sauce without it coming together immediately. Taste and season again if needed. Set a side until needed.*We highly recommend placing a lid on the saucepan but keep it cracked open because the sauce will be bubbling and will likely splatter.*

Make the ratatouille:

Place a sheet pan into the oven, on the middle rack and preheat the oven to 375°F. Also prepare a 12 inch oval casserole pan and an oval sheet of parchment paper that fits over the oval casserole pan.

Into the oval casserole pan, add the prepared piperade sauce and shake the pan to level out the sauce.*If you wish to plate up the ratatouille like in the movie, reserve ¼ cup of the sauce for making the piperade "vinaigrette".*

Arrange the zucchini, squash, eggplant, and tomato in alternating order in the casserole pan, from the edge to the center. Keep them tightly shingled, about ⅛ to ⅙ inch apart. You can also have the veggies pre-shingled on a tray while waiting on the piperade sauce to reduce.*Please refer to the post above for photo reference of this process.*

Once the pan is filled, lightly drizzle some olive oil onto the shingled veggies, followed by a little black pepper and salt.

Cover the casserole pan with the prepared sheet of oval parchment paper and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the veggies are tender. You can check by inserting a toothpick or knife into the middle ring of veggies. The veggies should still have just a little bit of resistance, but should not be hard or raw.

Portion and enjoy the ratatouille while it's hot with a generous amount of the piperade sauce. Or feel free to plate up the ratatouille with some piperade "vinaigrette" like Remy did in the movie!

(Optional) Piperade "vinaigrette":

Combine the ¼ cup of piperade sauce with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix breifly. You want to keep that separated appearance.

Nutrition

• Calories: 263.5 kcal
• Total Fat: 8 g
• Saturated Fat: 1.2 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 6.4 g
• Sodium: 608.5 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 43.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 9.9 g
• Total Sugars: 17.7 g
• Protein: 5.7 g