This ratatouille is both delicious and visually stunning, with its accordion-like vegetable medley that you almost won’t want to cut into … almost! Best served alongside some warm, crusty bread.
You will need
Serves 6
For the rainbow of veg
- 5 Roma tomatoes
- 3 green zucchini
- 3 yellow zucchini, or yellow squash
- 4 banana eggplants
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 20ml extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & white pepper
For the sauce
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 red capsicum, diced
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 30ml extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & white pepper
Recipe: Simon Toohey
Directions
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Step 1
Preheat the oven to 150°C.
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Step 2
Cook down the onion, garlic, capsicum and tomatoes in a pot with 30ml olive oil and a pinch of salt. Cover with a lid to sweat down for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
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Step 3
In the meantime, using a mandolin, thinly slice the tomatoes, zucchini, squash and the eggplant about 3ml thick.
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Step 4
Once the pot mixture has cooked, broken down and lost a lot of its moisture, place it in the blender and blitz to a smooth paste. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.
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Step 5
Pour 100ml of the saucey mixture in the bottom of a non-stick pan, then layer the slices, alternating between the vegetables. Spiral them around the dish, starting from the outside of the pan and working all the way around until you have reached the middle. Chop up the rosemary and scatter on top, drizzle with the remaining olive oil, and season with a pinch of salt.
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Step 6
Cover with foil and bake at 150°C for 60 minutes.
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Step 7
Finally, try to accept the compliments humbly as your dinner guests rave about how beautiful your ratatouille is.
Hot tip!
If you have the time, cook this dish for up to 90 minutes for maximum depth of flavour!
Recipe: Simon Toohey
