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Step-by-step recipe with photos

Ratatouille will take a couple of hours to prepare, so be patient. To begin, turn on the oven at 240 degrees to warm up, wash all the vegetables, take bell peppers for the sauce, cut into large slices and peel the seeds. I told you in the guide how to do this almost instantly and make your life easier forever. Place it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 15 minutes, then take it out and reduce the degrees to 160.

Let's make tomatoes for the sauce. Vegetable Ratatouille is a very tomato-based dish! There are several options for preparing them: buy ready-made chopped tomatoes in their own juice in a jar; peel the tomatoes using boiling water according to the instructions, and then cut them; grate the tomatoes with the skin on a coarse grater - all the skin will remain on the surface, and the desired pulp and juice will be grated. We choose the most convenient method for ourselves and get started. I chose the option with a grater, which my mother-in-law once taught me :)

Place a frying pan over medium heat, pour olive oil into it, peel the garlic and cut into large pieces (read more), take basil and thyme leaves, finely chop the stems and throw everything into the frying pan. Fry, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the leaves become soft.

Pour grated or chopped tomatoes without skin into a frying pan, add water, salt and pepper well and mix thoroughly. Reduce heat after boiling and leave for 15 minutes. The sauce for Ratatouille should be neither thick nor thin. Stir occasionally. While the sauce is preparing, cut the vegetables into circles 3-4 mm thick each. Only cut bell peppers into slices.

We take out a blender, put the baked pepper in it - you can peel it off, or you can leave it, it doesn’t matter. Pour the tomato mixture along with the leaves and garlic and grind all the ingredients thoroughly. The sauce for Ratatouille should be smooth.

Take a deep baking dish and spread the tomato sauce over the bottom in an even layer. When preparing Ratatouille, a recipe with a photo is a great help, so you can clearly see how the processes should go so as not to make a mistake.

Place chopped eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers in a bowl, carefully salt and pepper, sprinkle with Provençal herbs, add very finely chopped or squeezed garlic, pour in olive oil and mix, distributing the ingredients evenly. In general, the Ratatouille recipe can be found without peppers or onions. But I like it when all the summer vegetables are present.

The saddest process for me begins - laying out the vegetables. Vegetable Ratatouille is easy to prepare, but laying out the vegetables is a little tedious. However, beauty requires sacrifice! 🙂 We begin to arrange all the vegetables in circles one by one, placing them on top of each other very tightly.

Don't forget about the onions and tomatoes that were left outside the bowl so as not to leak and crumble. We lay out one row, then a second, a third, until the form is finished. By the way, you can also use a round shape, then we lay it out not in rows, but in a circle. Now you know exactly how to make Ratatouille beautiful!

Once the Rotatouille is set, drizzle all the vegetables with balsamic vinegar to add sweetness and zing.

Cut off the parchment paper. We cover the dish with Ratatouille, the recipe for which is almost finished (at least its active part). Place in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove the baking paper, raise the temperature to 220 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes.

Let's take the vegetable Ratutouille out of the oven! This vegetarian dish looks amazing! Finely chop the parsley and sprinkle on top.

Now you know how to cook Ratatouille!

Place carefully on plates and serve. Don't forget about the tomato sauce for Ratatouille!

I'll quickly summarize.

Brief recipe: vegetable Ratatouille

1. Turn on the oven at 240 degrees.
2. Wash the vegetables, peel and cut the bell peppers into large slices for the sauce.
3. Place it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 15 minutes, then take it out and reduce the degrees to 160.
4. Open a can of tomatoes in their own juice or use chopped fresh ones, peeling them or grating them on a coarse grater.
5. Place a frying pan with olive oil on medium heat.
6. Peel the garlic, cut into large pieces, tear off the basil and thyme leaves, finely chop the stems, put everything in a frying pan and fry, stirring, for 3 minutes.
7. Pour the tomatoes into the frying pan, add water, carefully salt and pepper, mix, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Place the baked peppers and tomato mixture in a blender and grind until smooth.
9. Pour the Ratatouille sauce into a deep baking dish, spreading it in an even layer.
10. Cut zucchini, eggplants, peeled onions, tomatoes into 3-4 mm circles, bell pepper into slices, and garlic very finely.
11. Place zucchini, eggplant, garlic and pepper in a bowl, carefully salt and pepper, sprinkle with Provençal herbs, pour in olive oil and mix thoroughly, distributing the spices and oil over all the vegetables.
12. Place all the chopped vegetables one at a time in the mold, alternating them with each other in several rows or in a circle (depending on the shape).
13. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the top and cover with a sheet of parchment paper.
14. Place the Ratatouille dish in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove the sheet of paper, increase the degrees to 220 and bake for another 30 minutes.
15. Finely chop the parsley.
16. Take the vegetable Ratatouille out of the oven, sprinkle with herbs and place on plates.
17. Now you know how to cook Ratatouille!

Vegetable Ratatouille is a dish whose recipe may differ in each French family with its own characteristics, like ours! I took the recipe from a French channel on YouTube, so it seemed the most authentic to me 🙂 If you have any other options, be sure to share them in the comments! By the way, last time I talked about how to cook, if you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend it!

Very soon, as always, I will share many more delicious recipes! So stay tuned so you don't miss out. , it's free! In addition, when you subscribe, you will receive as a gift a whole collection of complete recipes of 20 dishes that can be prepared very quickly, from 5 to 30 minutes, which will save a lot of your time! Eating quickly and tasty is real, just like bringing the Ratatouille recipe to life.

Vika Leping was with you! Prepare vegetable Ratatouille, tell your friends, like, leave comments, rate it, tell us what you did and remember that everyone can cook deliciously, that you are more talented than you can imagine and, of course, enjoy your food! I love you, be happy!

A vegetable dish typical of the cuisine of poor peasants in French Provence - ratatouille. It so happens that when you mention this word, almost everyone will remember the popular cartoon about the little rat chef, and not the recipe for ratatouille. I don’t know, perhaps the name of the cartoon somehow echoes the French rat (rat), or rata - in slang, food is a mishmash, a mess. But the second part of the word touiller means to stir, to stir.

By and large, the recipe for ratatouille is similar to or with dishes that are prepared by stewing various vegetables. They say that the first ratatouille, the recipe for which was published and recorded, dates back to the 18th century, and comes from the outskirts of Nice. The original recipe was hardly universally accepted; it included fresh vegetables grown in one’s own garden. It contains no exotic products, only zucchini, tomatoes, various peppers, onions and garlic. As well as spices and herbs familiar to the region, olive oil. Much later, ratatouille was added to the recipe.

Provencal ratatouille is a stew, a stewed mixture of vegetables. Although, very often, the dish in restaurants is served in the form of cutting into thin slices - each chef has his own recipe, although it differs not in the method of preparation, but in the spices and varieties of vegetables used. And, of course, completely original and fantastic table settings.

If you think about it, eggplant dishes common in the East are often similar to ratatouille. For example, the most famous dish in Egypt is often prepared not as stuffed eggplants, but as stewed pieces of vegetables. Amazing taste, special and pleasant.

Vegetable set

Spices and herbs are the subject of endless debate. “Provençal herbs” are a must. This is the highlight, the calling card of the dish. It is better not to prepare the dish without a set of Provençal herbs. A mixture of dry herbs, including rosemary, basil, thyme, sage, mint, savory, thyme, etc., is quite suitable. Such mixtures are sold in the store and, by the way, are of very decent quality. In addition to the dry mixture, it is worth picking up fresh sprigs of parsley, basil, and thyme. These are strong and aromatic herbs that give the dish the main taste and aroma. Fresh herbs should be tied with cotton thread and used in the form of a bouquet.

The first thing to do is bake the peppers. There are options here. The first and preferred one is to bake the peppers in coals or over an open flame. The pepper must be baked until the outer shell is charred, which then needs to be peeled off with a knife. You can bake the peppers in the oven - after clearing them of seeds. Immediately after baking, transfer the peppers to a sealed plastic bag until cool completely. The outer shell peels off and is removed perfectly.

The first thing to do is bake the peppers

Choose your method as is most convenient for you. However, peppers baked in coals or flames give the dish a touch of special taste. In any case, the peppers should be baked until soft, the outer shell peels off, and the seeds and tail should be immediately removed. The fleshy baked flesh of the peppers must be very finely chopped with a knife. You should not grind it with a blender, just let very small pieces of pepper get into the sauce.

The fleshy baked flesh of the peppers must be very finely chopped with a knife.

Scald large ripe tomatoes with boiling water and remove the skin. Remove seeds and the central growth zone from tomatoes - it is rough and clearly visible. Grind the remaining pulp in a blender until pureed.

Grind the tomato pulp in a blender until pureed.

Peel a large onion and chop it very finely with a knife. Heat 2 tbsp in a saucepan. l. olive oil and let it warm up for 1-2 minutes so that the specific smell inherent in natural olive oil disappears. Fry the chopped onion until soft. There is no need to brown the onion.

Fry chopped onion until soft

Add finely chopped roasted pepper pulp and a clove of garlic finely chopped with a knife to the onion. Fry everything together over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring.

Add roasted pepper pulp and garlic to the onion

Next is an important point: you need to add all the spices. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, add 1-2 tsp. sugar and grated nutmeg on the tip of a knife. Add dry mixture of Provençal herbs. The amount is strictly to taste, I added about 1 tsp. You can rub the mixture of Provençal herbs with your fingers, chopping it.

Simmer the peppers with spices for 5 minutes under the lid. The vegetable mixture for the sauce should be thick and very flavorful.

Simmer the peppers with spices for 5 minutes covered

Pour all the tomato puree into the saucepan and mix gently. If the puree is too thick, you can add a little boiled water. But, as a rule, this is not required. Simmer the pepper and tomato sauce under the lid for 3-4 minutes.

Pour all the tomato puree into the saucepan

Add a bouquet of fresh herbs - basil, thyme, parsley. Ratatouille should be flavorful. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 10 minutes. Then the bouquet of greens can be pulled out of the sauce; the spices are very aromatic and have already fulfilled their function.

Add a bouquet of fresh herbs - basil, thyme, parsley

The finished sauce should be similar in consistency to - quite thick. By the way, I read somewhere that in a simplified version of the ratatouille recipe they use ready-made lecho instead of sauce.

To prepare, you will need a ceramic or refractory glass mold with a high side. The shape can be oval or round to make it convenient to place vegetables. Pour all the sauce into a suitable form, leveling it along the bottom. The sauce should fill the pan to about a third of the way up.

Pour all the sauce into a suitable form.

Next comes an exciting activity - slicing vegetables into thin slices. As people say, fear has big eyes. At first glance, cutting a lot of vegetables into thin slices is an impossible task, which, by the way, stops many. Trust me, this is the easiest part of the recipe.

You can use kitchen graters, which mostly work well for slicing zucchini and zucchini. But, unfortunately, such a grater may not be able to handle the dense shell of eggplants, and a fairly soft tomato is difficult to grate. It’s worth taking a regular cutting board and a sharp chef’s knife. Even if you cut the first half of the zucchini unevenly, the further process will be almost perfect. The cutting thickness of all vegetables is 2-3 mm, no more.

Chop almost all the prepared vegetables, leaving one fruit of each type - you may not need them. If you don't have enough, you can always cut more.

Chop all prepared vegetables

Next, you need to place all the chopped vegetables, alternating them. For convenience, you can place 1-2 stacks of vegetables in a separate smaller mold, then transfer them to the sauce in the mold.

For convenience, you can put the vegetables in a separate mold.

The method and direction of installation is completely arbitrary. It is usually recommended to lay vegetables in a spiral, starting from the center. It is quite problematic to do this in a small form. Therefore, there is no need to complicate things unnecessarily. The laying scheme is at your discretion. Let it be parallel stripes or a spiral - it’s not so important. It is much more important that the entire surface of the mold is covered with chopped vegetables.

Place chopped vegetables on top of the sauce

Place a few sprigs of fresh thyme on top of the laid vegetables and sprinkle with finely chopped peeled garlic cloves. If desired and to taste, you can salt and pepper the vegetables. Brush all vegetables with olive oil, without skipping.

How to cook Ratatouille, and what is it? The answers to these culinary and other questions regarding the mentioned dish will be presented in the materials of this article.

general information

Dish "Ratatouille" - what is it? According to experts, the mentioned name is of French origin. It consists of two parts: rata and touiller, which translated mean “food” and “to interfere.”

"Ratatouille" is a Provencal cuisine (traditional) that consists of bell peppers, zucchini and eggplants. Some chefs claim that such a lunch is in many ways similar to Hungarian leczo.

Origin story

"Ratatouille" - a mention of which was first discovered in a cookbook published in 1778. Experienced chefs report that this unusual dish was originally prepared by poor peasants in the area of ​​modern Nice. They made it in the summer from fresh vegetables.

"Ratatouille" is His original recipe included tomatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers and garlic. As for the modern version, eggplants and sometimes squash are also used to create it.

Peculiarities

"Ratatouille" is a Provençal dish that is very reminiscent of traditional Russian vegetable stew. This is partly true. However, such food is prepared somewhat differently. Vegetables for such a lunch are cut not into cubes, but into circles. At the same time, they are laid out in a spiral in the mold.

To give such a dinner a special aroma and taste, French spices, or rather (including fennel, truffles, cumin, rosemary, mint and basil), must be added to it. Thanks to such spices, any dish of Provencal cuisine can be transformed beyond recognition.

Analogs

The “Ratatouille” dish, the recipe for which will be discussed below, is prepared not only in France, but also in other countries. As a rule, such food has a different name in other countries. For example, in Italian cuisine this peculiar vegetable stew is called “Caponata”, in Turkish - “Imam Bayaldy”, in Spanish - “Pisto”, in Hungarian - “Lecho”, and in Catalan - “Samfaina”.

It should also be noted that even if all of the listed dishes are prepared from the same ingredients, they may have noticeable taste differences. This is due to the fact that the types of vegetables used, the herbs, herbs and spices used, as well as the technology for creating vegetable dishes play a big role in the process of preparing this dinner.

"Ratatouille": recipes (how to cook)

Many housewives are afraid to start making such a dish because they consider it complicated and expensive. But that's not true. The dish in question is quite easy to prepare. Moreover, its creation requires only simple components that are accessible to everyone.

As mentioned above, in the original version, Ratatouille was prepared from tomatoes, zucchini, sweet peppers, garlic and onions. Today they began to add eggplants and squash to the dish.

It should also be noted that ready-made lunch can be served hot or cold, as well as at room temperature. It is often used as an independent dish. Although sometimes housewives present it as a side dish for meat. Ratatouille can also serve as an excellent snack if eaten with crackers or bread.

So how should you make Ratatouille? The step-by-step culinary recipe involves using:

• yellow and red bell peppers - 2 medium pieces;
• vegetable oil (it is better to take olive oil) - 5 large spoons;
• fresh large garlic - 2 cloves;
• large onions - 1 pc.;
• tomatoes in their own juice - approximately 300 g;
• thyme (in sprigs) - 3 pcs.;
• fresh parsley - to your taste;
• bay leaf - 1 pc.;
• fresh green zucchini - 1 pc.;
• young eggplant, not very large - 1 pc.;
• small squash - 1 pc.;
• fresh medium tomatoes - 5 pcs.;
• salt, pepper - to your taste.

Pre-treatment of vegetables

Before preparing a delicious French dish, you should process all the necessary components.

Eggplants, squash and zucchini are thoroughly washed while hot. In this case, their tails and navels are immediately cut off, and the skin is left. Next, all the vegetables are chopped into thin circles. By the way, to obtain the most delicious and tender dish, such ingredients are taken only fresh and young.

Bell peppers are also processed separately. It is washed thoroughly, cut in half and the seeds are removed. Next, the pepper is chopped into slices. As for fresh tomatoes, they are cut into thin slices. In this case, be sure to leave the skin on.

Preparation of products

It is advisable to form Ratatouille in a deep (heat-resistant) form intended for the oven. Its bottom is completely covered with baking paper. Next, place the bell pepper slices cut side down on the parchment. In this form, the dishes are sent to the oven, heated to 220 degrees. After 20 minutes, remove the pepper. After this, the hard skin is carefully removed from it and finely chopped.

Pour a few tablespoons of oil into a cast iron frying pan and heat it thoroughly. Next, add onions, cut into small cubes, as well as cloves of garlic passed through a press. In this form, the ingredients are fried over low heat for about 8 minutes. Over time, crushed (that is, canned), their brine, two sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf and a tablespoon of chopped parsley are added to them.

After laying out all the ingredients, simmer them over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. After this, finely chopped bell pepper is added to them. After a couple of minutes, remove the bay leaf and thyme from the almost finished sauce. In this case, place 2 large spoons of vegetable mass into a bowl, and remove the rest from the heat.

Formation process

How should Ratatouille be shaped correctly? First you need to take a wide heat-resistant form with high sides, into which you need to place all the prepared sauce. Next, you need to put all the pre-chopped vegetables into it. In this case, fresh tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and squash need to be placed in a bowl in a circle, overlapping. For beauty and unusual appearance, different colors of vegetables should be alternated.

After all the ingredients have been laid out, sprinkle them with the remaining chopped garlic, add a thyme leaf and butter. At the very end, the dishes with vegetables are completely covered with cooking foil. This is necessary so that the dish is well prepared and does not become covered with a burnt crust.

Heat treatment in the oven

To bake a French dish, the oven temperature should be lowered to 135 degrees. Place them in a mold with vegetables in a heated cabinet and cook them for two hours. After this time, the foil is removed. Cook Ratatouille in this form for another 30 minutes.

If during the heat treatment process too much liquid is formed in the dish with the dish, it is carefully drained.

The process of decorating lunch and serving it correctly to the table

To decorate this French dish, the previously reserved vegetable sauce is mixed with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The resulting mixture is beautifully poured onto the plate, or rather along its sides. As for the center of the dish, Ratatouille is carefully placed on it. At the same time, make sure that the vegetable layers remain in the form in which they were baked.

Food - there is so much in this word! Taste, aroma, beauty! Just gourmets can be different.

Some of them are delighted with home cooking, dumplings and fried potatoes, while others are crazy about gourmet cuisine and learn to cook profiteroles with cheese cream. How to combine the extravaganza of taste and ease of preparation? Prepare ratatouille and please your family with a simple and flavorful dish.

What is ratatouille

Let's be honest, in our country ratatouille gained fame after the release of the cartoon of the same name about a funny little rat who dreamed of cooking all his life and believed that anyone could become a cook. In the hands, or rather paws, of this cute cartoon character, a banal piece of cheese turned into a masterpiece, as its taste was enriched with seasonings and sauces. And then one day, little rat Remy’s dream came true; he got a unique opportunity to cook in a real kitchen. It turned out that he really succeeds. Original soups, delicate creams, cakes with airy layers and ratatouille, which Remy treated the food critic who dropped in to ruin the careers of the restaurant workers.

Why did Remy choose ratatouille? Because in my heart I understood that it was precisely with such a seemingly simple, but incredibly soulful dish that one could evoke a note of real feeling in this professional to the core. Let's say a few words about how to cook ratatouille. The recipe is simple and attractive. This is a traditional vegetable dish of Provencal cuisine, in many ways similar to Hungarian lecho. The name of the dish comes from the French Ratatouille, more specifically, rata - “food”, and touiller - “to stir”. Actually, the whole meaning of the word lies in the name.

What is the history of ratatouille?

How to prepare a dinner that everyone will enjoy? This question is asked by all housewives and women busy with their careers. You can’t please everyone: men want something more satisfying and tasty, women take care of their figure, and children do not accept boring dishes.

So the correct answer was found. Ratatouille was originally prepared by small peasants living in the area of ​​modern Nice. In the summer they collected fresh vegetables and baked them. Traditionally, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic were used for cooking. Later they began to add eggplants there. Harmoniously combined with each other, the vegetables were soaked in juice and presented a play of colors and tastes. Looks amazing and smells great!

How to cook ratatouille? The recipe in the cartoon of the same name was the author's with original serving.

Local spices were used as seasonings: the famous Provencal herbs, which are present in abundance in the kitchen of a good cook. Fennel, cumin, rosemary, mint and basil were added. Imagine this aroma. This combination transforms every dish beyond recognition. The result is an Italian-Mediterranean dish in essence and French in form. Ratatouille has “brothers” all over the world. In Hungary it is lecho, in Spain it is pisto, and in Italy it is caponata. In Russia, ratatouille is called a vegetable stew, adding greens to taste.

Classic is most important

Let's figure out how to cook ratatouille in its traditional variation. This is a spicy and tasty dish that is not inferior to meat in terms of beneficial qualities. Take a couple of eggplants, zucchini and about eight tomatoes. Also add pepper, garlic and onion. Tomato paste gives the dish a richer color, but you can add ketchup if desired. To make the dish more flavorful, take a few tablespoons of dry white wine, olive oil, a bunch of cilantro, parsley and basil. Remember that with the first ingredient you will learn how to make eggplant ratatouille, but without them you will get a classic recipe.

Continue cooking: chop the onion and garlic. Fry them in olive oil, adding chopped peppers as you go. Grate the tomatoes. By the way, do you know how to cook ratatouille if the tomatoes are not peeled? This, of course, is not a critical point, but skinless tomatoes will be easier to grate for frying. Make an incision crosswise and scald the tomatoes with boiling water.

After a couple of seconds, the skin on the tomatoes will rise and it will be easy to remove. Add the tomato mass to the onion and garlic. Also add tomato paste diluted in half with water and white wine. Season the mixture with pepper and salt, and then leave to cool.

Stage two: preparing the base

If you are thinking about how to cook ratatouille, then learn to cut vegetables evenly and beautifully. Peel the zucchini and eggplant and then cut into thin slices. Do the same with tomatoes, just don’t remove the skin. Salt the chopped vegetables and add seasonings. Now lay out the vegetables in dense rows, alternating them for beauty and better taste. Now add chopped garlic and spices to taste. Pour tomato paste over the vegetables, and cover the dish with baking paper so as not to interfere with the evaporation of moisture. If you want, you can cook in a frying pan, although this is fraught with some disadvantages, but perhaps you are wondering how to cook ratatouille in the oven. As easy as pie! This is exactly the original version. Preheat the oven to maximum temperature and bake the ratatouille for about one hour. It is recommended to monitor the cooking process and evaluate the surface of the dish every 15-20 minutes.

Also focus on the smell. If the aromas make you dizzy, do not deny yourself the pleasure of trying a piece.

Bringing beauty to the table

Let the dish cool and carefully, like a cake, separate a portion with a spatula. We advise you to invite all your friends who don’t know how to cook ratatouille to your place. We guarantee that they will be delighted. The dish has an unsurpassed taste both cold and warm. Serve it on a large platter with a few drops of wine, sauce and herbs. It would also be good to serve the dish with toasted white bread.

Classic vegetarian menu

Great chefs around the world recommend ratatouille to vegans who come to restaurants with a tired look on their faces. And vegetarians are also delighted with this dish. After all, how to cook eggplant ratatouille? To do this, you don’t need to take anything fatty or unhealthy. Just vegetables and some seasonings. In addition to the vegetables listed, add zucchini and squash. Use young vegetables, as their taste is brighter and richer. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper. And if you want to include the dish in family meals, we recommend adding potatoes to it. This way it will be even more satisfying. If you want to skip the oil altogether, consider making ratatouille in a slow cooker. This way you can cook several dishes at the same time without the risk of burning.

At the end of the story

How did the story with the unusual little rat Remy end? He made the brave decision to impress the seasoned critic with such a simple dish as ratatouille. And when a beautifully decorated plate with portions of ratatouille was brought to the important gentleman, he just knitted his eyebrows, grinned incredulously, scribbled something in his notebook and took a little ratatouille on the tip of a spoon, tasted it - and his eyes flashed. In just one piece, he felt all the joy of his childhood, remembered his mother, who met him from school and placed a plate of ratatouille in front of his gloomy, but so beloved son. The critic remembered the warmth of his home and felt a tear roll down his cheek in a surge of emotion. Naturally, he approved of the dish and gave the restaurant the highest rating. This is how the story about this amazing dish from southern France ended.

Anyone can cook ratatouille, because it is an ordinary vegetable stew. There are many options for preparing this dish. It can be baked in the oven, stewed in a saucepan or slow cooker. Today we will present several detailed recipes.

Ratatouille (recipe): preparing a delicious vegetable lunch at home

The most common method of preparing such a dish is the one that involves using the oven. With this kitchen device you can quickly and easily make not only a tasty, but also a beautiful lunch.

So you want to know how to cook ratatouille? Then you need to prepare the following products:

• sweet pepper - about 2 pcs. (it’s better to take different colors);
• ripe fleshy tomatoes - about 300 g + 5-6 pcs. for the sauce;
• garlic cloves - 2-4 pcs.;
• large sweet onion - 1 pc.;
• fresh thyme - 3 sprigs;
• fresh parsley - use to taste;
• laurel - 1 leaf;
• fresh yellow squash - 1 pc.;
• iodized salt and crushed pepper - use to taste.

Preparing vegetables

How to cook Ratatouille quickly and tasty? First you need to wash the eggplant, zucchini, squash and some tomatoes. Next, you need to cut off the stalks and chop them into thin circles. However, you should not remove the skin from vegetables.

Preparing the sauce

Before I tell you how to cook ratatouille in the oven, I should tell you how to make the sauce for such a dish. After all, without filling, a vegetable lunch can turn out dry and unsatisfying.

First you need to wash the tomatoes and bell peppers, blanch them, and then carefully remove the film-like skin. After this, both ingredients should be placed in a blender and blended until smooth at the highest speed. Next, place the vegetable mass in a frying pan, add deodorized olive oil, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, salt, chopped onion, pepper and parsley, and then simmer under the lid for about 20-27 minutes. Finally, add 1-2 grated garlic cloves to the sauce.

Formation process

How to cook ratatouille? The recipe for this dish recommends using a round and deep pan. You need to put the previously prepared sauce on its bottom, and then place the slices of vegetables. After this, the products should be sprinkled with salt, grated garlic and pepper.

Baking process

Before preparing ratatouille, the kitchen appliance should be heated to a temperature of 200 degrees. The formed dish must be baked for 50-60 minutes.

Serve vegetable stew baked in the oven

Now you know how to cook ratatouille. The recipe for this dish recommends serving it only hot. Having beautifully distributed the lunch into plates, it should be presented to the guests along with light or dark bread and fresh sour cream. By the way, you can also eat this dish together with meat products (fried, boiled, stewed, etc.).

How to cook ratatouille? Recipe for making in a slow cooker

If you want to make vegetable stew not only tasty, but also quickly, we recommend using a multicooker for this. In such a kitchen device, preparing a dish called “ratatouille” is very easy and simple. For this we need:

• ripe fleshy tomatoes - about 300 g + 3 pcs. for making sauce;
• sweet pepper, not very large - 1 pc. (it’s better to take yellow);
• deodorized vegetable oil (for example, olive) - about 5 large spoons;
• garlic cloves - 2 pcs.;
• large sweet onion (purple or white) - 1 pc.;
• sour cream or fatty mayonnaise - 2 large spoons;
• fresh parsley - use to taste;
• fresh zucchini with soft skin - 1 pc.;
• eggplant not too big - 1 pc.;
• zucchini with soft skin - 1 pc.;
• iodized salt and crushed allspice - use to taste.

Vegetable processing

How to cook ratatouille in a slow cooker? First you need to process the vegetables. Eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and zucchini need to be washed in warm water, and then the navels and stalks should be cut off. Next, the products must be cut into thin circles. However, they should not be peeled.

If you purchased vegetables that are too large, then it is better to chop them into half circles. After all, this is the only way they can be beautifully placed in the multicooker bowl.

Preparing the dressing

As mentioned above, a dish called “ratatouille” will turn out the most delicious and juicy if it is made together with tomato dressing. To prepare it, you need to blanch the sweet peppers and tomatoes, and then peel them from their thin skins. You should also chop the sweet onion and chop the greens.

After the products are ready, you need to pour olive oil into the multicooker bowl and heat it in baking mode. Next, you need to lightly fry the onions in the same program, and then add tomatoes and bell peppers chopped in a blender to it. It is advisable to simmer all ingredients in the appropriate mode for ¼ hour.

Finally, the vegetable mass should be seasoned with grated garlic cloves, fresh parsley, salt and pepper. After mixing the ingredients, you also need to add a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise or sour cream.

Forming a dish in a slow cooker

After the tomato-sour cream sauce is ready, ½ of it should be removed from the bowl, and the rest should be distributed evenly over the bottom. Next, you need to beautifully place circles or semi-circles of vegetables into the multicooker. It is recommended to alternate them with each other. For example: eggplant, zucchini, tomato and zucchini. After all the vegetables are in the bowl, they should be poured with the remaining sauce and seasoned with grated garlic.

Heat treatment

After the dish is beautifully formed, it should be closed and simmered in the appropriate mode for about 40 minutes. During this time, the vegetables should become completely soft and absorb the flavors of the tomato sauce.

Properly serving a delicious vegetable dish to the table

We have presented to your attention a detailed method of how to prepare ratatouille. You can see a photo of this dish in this article. After the multicooker notifies you that its program has completed, lunch can be safely distributed among plates. It is advisable to serve it to family members or friends only in a hot (at best, warm) state. Additionally, vegetables can be flavored with fresh herbs or sprinkled with lemon juice. It is also recommended to present them with fresh dark or light bread. Bon appetit!

Let's sum it up

We talked about how you can prepare a vegetable stew called “ratatouille” yourself. However, it should be noted that the presented dish can be baked or stewed not only in an oven or slow cooker, but also on a regular kitchen stove. To do this you need to use a deep saucepan. In this case, vegetables can be cut or placed in dishes not as described above, but in a chaotic order. In any case, this dish will turn out to be very satisfying. If desired, it can be additionally flavored with any seasonings and spices. This way you will get an even richer and more flavorful lunch, which will serve as an ideal dish for both everyday and special occasions. Try it and you will see this statement for yourself.