Gérald Passedats Ratatouille My Way Recipes

EASY RATATOUILLE RECIPE

Steps:

• Place eggplant pieces in a large colander over your sink. Sprinkle with salt. Leave for 20 minutes as the eggplant sweats out its bitterness. Pat dry to remove water and excess salt.
• In a large heavy pot or Dutch Oven, heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onions. Cook, stirring regularly, until translucent (about 5 minutes). Now add the red peppers and green peppers, cook for another 4 minutes, and continue to stir.
• Add the garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, wine, and fresh thyme springs. Stir in black pepper, paprika, and rosemary. Season with kosher salt.
• Raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Turn the heat down then cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or so.
• Remove the ratatouille from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Add the sherry vinegar and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Top with fresh basil.
• To serve, transfer the ratatouille to dinner bowls, top each with a fried egg (sunny-side up) and add crusty bread on the side. (See Cook's Tip)

GéRALD PASSEDAT'S RATATOUILLE MY WAY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/Gas mark 4).
• Roll out the puff pastry thinly into a rectangle about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Drape the pastry over the rolling pin and unroll it onto a baking sheet.
• Place a wire cake rack on top and bake the pastry for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
• Allow to cool a little, then cut into four 4 in. (10 cm) rounds using a plain pastry cutter.
• Peel and finely chop the onions and sweat them in a pan in a little olive oil.
• Season with salt and pepper and then cover the pan and stew the onions for 45 minutes.
• Drain through a sieve to remove excess oil. Reserve.
• Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C/Gas mark 2).
• Wash all the remaining vegetables.
• Brush the bell peppers with olive oil and season. Lay on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, remove the stalks from the tomatoes and cut a cross with a small knife in the base of each tomato to make them easier to peel.
• Immerse in boiling water for a few seconds and then in cold water.
• Slip off the skins, quarter the tomatoes, remove the cores and seeds, and discard.
• Oil a baking sheet and lay the tomato quarters on it.
• Slice the eggplant and zucchini lengthways, leaving the skin on.
• Add the slices to the baking sheet with the tomatoes on it, spreading the vegetables out in a single layer.
• Season with salt and pepper and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.
• When the vegetables are cooked, cut them into even-sized rounds using a 1 in. (2.5 cm) plain pastry cutter.
• Spread the stewed onions over the pastry rounds and arrange the vegetables in overlapping rings on top.
• Make small bouquets with a few sprigs of basil and thyme and place in the center of the ratatouille "galettes."
• Serve cold and drizzle with olive oil just before serving.

RATATOUILLE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Prepare the vegetables: Smash and peel 3 garlic cloves, reserving the 4th. Halve onions through their roots, and slice halves into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Slice zucchini into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Cut eggplant into 1-inch cubes or spears. Seed peppers, and cut them into 1/4-inch-thick strips.
• Spread each vegetable on a separate rimmed baking sheet (use extra sheets as necessary). Add the 3 cloves of smashed garlic to the onion pan. Add 1 sprig rosemary and 2 sprigs thyme to each of the pepper, eggplant and zucchini pans. Sprinkle salt lightly over vegetables. Drizzle 3 tablespoons olive oil on each of the pans.
• Place all the pans in the oven (or work in batches if they don't fit at once). Cook until vegetables are very tender and lightly browned at the edges. This will take about 35 to 40 minutes for the peppers (their skins should shrivel), 40 to 45 minutes for the eggplant and zucchini (the eggplant should crisp slightly and the zucchini should be well cooked, so let them go 3 to 5 minutes longer than you normally might), and 60 to 65 minutes for the onions. Don't worry about the vegetables being pretty; they will meld into the ratatouille. Shake or stir the pans every 15 to 20 minutes or so, especially the onions.
• In the meantime, prepare the tomatoes: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add tomatoes and blanch until the skins split, about 10 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to quickly transfer the tomatoes to a bowl filled with ice water.
• Using a paring knife, peel the cooled tomatoes (the skins should slip right off). Halve tomatoes across their equators. Set a sieve over a bowl. Working over the bowl, use your fingers to seed the tomatoes, letting the seeds catch in the sieve and the juice run into the bowl. Discard seeds but save juices. Dice tomatoes and add to the reserved juices in bowl.
• Finely grate or mince remaining garlic clove. Add garlic to tomatoes along with bay leaves and a large pinch of salt. Set aside.
• Once vegetables are done cooking, combine them on one baking sheet or a large shallow baking dish and add ingredients from tomato bowl. Toss well. Vegetables will be stacked, and that's O.K. Cover generously with olive oil, using remaining ¼ cup oil or more, and sprinkle with salt. Everything should have a good coat of oil, but should not be drowning in it. Cook at least 1 hour, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes, until vegetables are very tender and imbued with juices and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve warm, or let cool.