Hello! Welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–I’m glad you’ve joined me today!
OK–show of hands: Who here loves the movie “Ratatouille?” That’s what I thought–it’s one of my favorite movies, too 🙂 That little rat’s love of cooking, food, family and Paris are totally irresistible! And when he melts Anton Ego’s heart with a dish of ratatouille at the end, well, my heart melts every time, too–especially because ratatouille is one of my favorite dishes, as well.
So let’s take a closer look at ratatouille today.
What is ratatouille? The etymology of the word says it all, actually: Ratatouille literally means pieces or chunks mixed together. In the case of ratatouille, chunks of vegetables mixed together and made into a stew. It originated in the Provencal region of France and I imagine at its origin, it included whatever produce was left in the field at the end of the summer’s harvest, which would have been kind of what you’d expect: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchinis or other squashes, onions, garlic, and probably some summer herbs like sweet basil. The farmer would have further thrown in anything else that was left and stewed it all up together–parts is parts, right?
Although in more modern times, folks have gotten a little more fussy about this peasant vegetable stew, the more or less accepted ingredients haven’t changed too much and it’s still an important staple in French cuisine.
My version of ratatouille is more or less traditional, although I make something similar all year long when I want to use up some scrap vegetables at the end of the week when I’m trying to clear out the crisper drawers. I will generally use tomatoes (fresh, frozen from the summer or canned are all fine), onions and garlic, but I’ve also been known to use up some cauliflower, green beans and the like and I urge you to do the same. You might find a combination that you like even better than the traditional melange of eggplant, squash and bell peppers.
Today, I’m sharing my recipe for the more traditional ratatouille, but think of it only as a template and use your own imagination to make your own perfect vegetable stew!
And–if you top this gorgeous stew with mashed potatoes and cheese, you have this delicious vegetarian shepherds pie!
Now–what about the gorgeous creation that Remy made in the movie Ratatouille? Well, after doing a little reading on it, turns out that the French refer to that particular creation as a “tian,” rather than a ratatouille. The recipe is basically the same, except that you cut the vegetables into sliced rounds and place them concentrically on top of a layer of tomato sauce, drizzle a little olive oil, or more tomato sauce over top, along with some torn sweet basil leaves and bake the whole thing (under parchment paper) until the vegetables are soft:
The main difference here is that a ratatouille is stewed rather than roasted.
Thanks for joining me today for this post about ratatouille–please join me tomorrow when we talk about French salads. Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
