This purports to be Thomas Keller’s recipe for the ratatouille (this is just a very fancy version of one) that Remy rat cooks in the movie Ratatouille. Keller was a consultant for the movie. It’s a bit of work, but it’s really delicious. In making it, I learned what ‘Piperade’ is – a sauce made with bell pepper, tomato and onion that originates from the Basque country. It’s this sauce that makes it so tasty and I’m sure it has other applications.
Ingredients
The assembly stage is a good one to delegate to kids; my daughter doing it below:
Ingredients
- Piperade sauce
- 1 1/2 bell pepper (red/yellow/orange mix) finely diced
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic minced
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 1/2 can (200g) tomato
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig Italian parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- salt
- Vegetables
- 1 medium zucchini (approx 200g) sliced about 4mm thick
- 1 medium eggplant (same as above - try and get a long thin one about same diameter as your zucchini)
- 1 yellow squash (same as above)
- 4 Roma tomatoes sliced as above
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp thyme leaves
- salt and pepper
- Vinaigrette
- 1 tbsp of reserved piperade sauce
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- Assorted fresh herbs (thyme flowers, chervil, thyme)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Sauce
- Fry the peppers, garlic and onion in the oil in a medium skillet over low heat until very soft but not browned, about 8 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, thyme, parsley and bay leaf. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes.
- Blend with a stick blender till smooth. Season it carefully with salt to taste. Reserve 1 tbsp for the vinaigrette.
- Assembly
- Spread the sauce in suitable oven proof dish and then arrange the vegetables alternating them and filling the dish from the edge to centre in a spiral.
- Mix garlic, oil and thyme leaves in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over vegetables. Cover pan with foil and crimp edges to seal well (or use parchment paper).
- Bake in oven for 1.5 hrs at 135 °C. Remove foil, bake a further 30 mins to brown the top a bit.
- Now you can eat it straight away (with the vinaigrette on top) or keep it overnight where it’s supposed to taste better the next day.
- Vinaigrette
- For Vinaigrette, in a bowl, combine reserved tablespoon piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle it on top when serving.
The assembly stage is a good one to delegate to kids; my daughter doing it below:
