The French ratatouille is a vegetable stir-fry, typical of Mediterranean cuisine and ideal to accompany any kind of grilled meat or fish. This dish is very healthy because of the vegetables it has, but it also contains a significant amount of olive oil so it is not really “light”. Making a good French ratatouille is not difficult, but my favourite recipe is the most elaborate: I like to cook the vegetables separately so that they maintain their unique taste.
Personally I love it with the crispy parmesan and herbs chicken (see picture below).
Tricks:
– Place a sieve over a large bowl to recover the vegetable cooking oil and use it later in the recipe.
– Cut the vegetables while you cook them so that it goes faster.
I like it because:
– The French ratatouille can also be served as a sauce for pasta or rice.
– You can incorporate any type of aromatic herbs for a change.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE:
- 1 eggplant
- 2/3 US cup (150 ml) olive oil to fry the eggplant + 2 tablespoons for the rest of the vegetables
- 1 red pepper and 1 green pepper
- 2 courgettes
- 2 cloves garlic
- Fresh parsley and Provence herbs
- 1 small cane chopped tomatoes (2 US cups / 400g)
Homemade French ratatouille recipe
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat while cutting the eggplant into small cubes.
- Sauté the eggplant cubes in several batches if necessary to brown evenly. Meanwhile cut the peppers into thin slices.
- Strain the eggplant in a sieve over a large bowl to recover the excess oil.
- Pour a tablespoon of olive oil in the hot pan, and cook the peppers until they are tender and golden while you cut the courgettes in ½ centimetre slices.
- Put the peppers in the sieve with the eggplant cubes once they are cooked.
- Pour another tablespoon of oil in the pan and cook the courgettes in the same way and add them to the sieve. Meanwhile chop the garlic.
- Pour again the surplus of olive oil from the vegetables in the pan – all of it or less according to your taste – and fry the garlic for 5 minutes over low heat.
- Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan with the garlic, and simmer 10 minutes.
- After ten minutes, mix all the vegetables and the herbs together in the pan, and stir well.
- Cook 5 more minutes and you can serve the ratatouille.
Bon appétit!
