Hola Mi Gente,
I’m going to keep this short and sweet, and let you get to the recipe quickly (which is why you came here in the first place, duh). Just a few words on what makes this dish delicious + some tools to help cut down the prep time.
For this dish, you can hone in on your slicing OR you can just do a rough dice (chopping the vegetables into cubes). It mostly depends on how much time you have. I’ve used both methods for this recipe so that you can get a good visual of what they both can look like. I’ll fess up and say that I used a Mandoline (you can find the one I have here), which is a kitchen tool that uniformly slices vegetables. It saved me about 5-7 minutes of precise slicing. A rough chop of the veggies will do just fine though. With a rough dice, you’re going to get a more stew-like consistency, while the slicing gives you more crisp edges for a little textural contrast. I’ll leave it up to you which one you choose.
The base of a good ratatouille is in the sauce at the bottom. It softens the vegetables on the bottom, and adds flavor to the layers you build. In this ratatouille, you’ll be using Miso paste to bring a little extra umami–or savoriness to fill out the flavor and contrast against the acidity of the tomatoes.
This recipe is delicious for a weeknight with (or without) a protein, and a good baguette or sourdough to sop up all the delicious sauce with. It’s also the perfect veggie dish to bring to a holiday gathering or potluck. It’s traditionally served at room temperature or even a little bit cold, so it can stand the travel and lingering on the table (although I really love it hot with a good piece of bread). To make it Vegan, just skip the parmesan in the topping, and you have a really flavorfully complex dish to enjoy with your plant-based friends (or to make your omnivorous friends question why they consider vegetables bland.
From our table to yours, I hope this dish nourishes the people around your table or the tables you gather around.
love, love, love,
Ratatouille
Ingredients
Ratatouille Sauce
- Avocado or Olive Oil Enough to cover the bottom of the pan
- 1 Medium Onion Finely diced
- 3 Cloves Garlic Finely grated
- 1/2 TSP Dried Oregano
- 1 Heaping TBSP Miso Paste
- 1 32 OZ Can Can of Diced Tomatoes
- 2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme Leaves only
- Salt and Pepper To taste
Ratatouille Filling
- 1 Medium Eggplant Thinly sliced OR diced into cubes
- 1 Large Zucchini Thinly sliced OR diced into cubes
- 1 Large Summer Squash Thinly sliced OR diced into cubes
- 3 Roma Tomatoes Diced
- 1 TBSP Kosher or Coarse Salt Use 1 TSP of fine or table salt if no kosher salt
Ratatouille Topping
- 3 TBSP Olive Oil
- 2 Cloves Garlic Finely grated
- 1 TSP Kosher Salt
- 1.5 TSP Parmesan Cheese
- 2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme Leaves only
Instructions
Ratatouille Sauce
- Preheat your oven to 425 F. On the stovetop, heat a 12" Cast-iron skillet over high heat for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium high and add in olive oil. Once it's heated (it'll sizzle when you splash water on the pan), add in your diced onion. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 3-5 minutes, until it is translucent and fragrant. Add in the garlic and stir to combine. Cook together for 1 minute. Add in Miso paste, fresh thyme, oregano, and tomatoes. Stir together until combined, and simmer for 20 minutes (while this simmers, begin chopping your veggies). The sauce will have thickened. Taste it, and then add in your salt and pepper a little at a time until it is to your taste.
Ratatouille Filling
- If doing a sliced ratatouille (for crisp edges and textural contrast), slice your veggies uniformly, add salt, mix, and set aside. The tomato will still be diced and placed in between your layers in cubes if you choose to slice it. For a more stew-like ratatouille, dice your veggies and toss together with the salt and set aside.
Ratatouille Topping
- Combine the olive oil, grated garlic, parmesan, salt, and thyme together.
Assembly and Cooking
- If making a sliced ratatouille, layer your vegetables over the sauce in a pattern. Pour the filling over the mixture uniformly. For a rough-dice ratatouille, toss the filling and topping together, and then add to the cast iron. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Ratatouille is delicious both warm or cool. Enjoy!
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
