Let us say that again for all y’all reading this who think they’re hot shit: BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING A MANDOLINE! IT WILL FUCK YOU UP IF YOU DON’T RESPECT IT! Got it? ? Mediocre Tip: If you want to speed up the process of preparing the vegetables, use a mandoline. If you choose to use one, be very careful, as you can quite easily shave off a chunk of your finger.
When the skin starts to peel back, take the tomatoes out of the water and put them in ice water or run them under cold water to stop them from cooking. ? Mediocre Tip: To easily peel your tomatoes, cut small crosses at the top and bottom of the tomato before blanching. The tomatoes in this recipe also take some prep before you can slice them - they need to be blanched so they can be easily peeled. A sharp knife here is also key - without a sharp knife, slicing the vegetables will take longer, making this dish seem like it’s never going to prepared (and you haven’t even started to layer the vegetables yet). If you can’t find an eggplant that is skinny, a regular eggplant will do, but you’ll have to cut the larger slices smaller so you can properly layer the vegetables. Your zucchini, tomatoes, and eggplant should all be the same size, so when you slice them they are all uniform. Boom! Done.įor this method, you have to be a bit more picky with your vegetables and the tools you use. Finish cooking the dish in the oven at 400☏ for 20 minutes or so. Then add the zucchini and eggplant back in, give everything a mix, and salt and pepper to taste. Nasty.Īfter the searing is complete, add in the red pepper, onion, cherry tomatoes, and herbs, and let everything cook down and get soft. If you put too much shit in the pot, the vegetables will steam or boil and they won’t sear. ? Mediocre Tip: Make sure that you sear in batches. (Put a bowl underneath the colander so the juices don't make a mess on your counter!) Once that’s done, sear the eggplant and zucchini in a pan with olive oil to brown them and develop the flavours.
Put them in a colander with some salt and let them sit for half an hour to allow some of the moisture to drip out. To make traditional ratatouille, start by peeling the eggplant and roughly chopping it into manageable pieces, then cutting the zucchini into similar sized pieces. Then chef Michel Guérard showed everyone up and made Confit Byaldi (what we’re calling Pixar-style ratatouille in the next section below). Up until the 1970s everyone made ratatouille the simple way. We followed Andy Baraghani’s rataouille recipe.