My ratatouille recipe is better than yours

Published on 1 June 2021

For a few weeks now I've had a huge obsession, that of cooking ratatouille on repeat. Why? I don't really know, probably the arrival of summer, the seasonal vegetables giving you the eye at the market stalls, and then damn it, I'm a southerner, ratatouille runs in my blood.

So yeah, I make it all the time, and rather than grabbing a recipe on the Internet, I improvise completely, and honestly since it's perfect, I'm sticking my recipe here, dead simple, to nail yours! A recipe that shouldn't stray too far from the "original" recipe, assuming it exists.

Note that everything is pretty approximate, so wing it a bit when I'm short on precision, seeing as I didn't do Top Chef, you know.

Let me also point out that I do all this in a cast-iron pot, but it'll work just as well in a big saucepan.

The ingredients, for 4:

• One big, nicely local eggplant

• Two courgettes, just as local

• One red pepper (or green, or yellow, doesn't matter really)

• One fresh onion

• 6 big cloves of garlic (yes yes), if you have new garlic that works too

• Two 400-gram cans of tomatoes (like Mutti, pulp or peeled) (it also works with fresh tomatoes but it'll take more time)

• A hundred or so liters of olive oil (I'm kidding, but plan for quite a lot all the same)

• A splash of lemon juice

• A splash of red wine (optional)

• One or two sugar cubes (or none if adding sugar bugs you, which I can understand)

• Some herbes de Provence

• A pinch of chili

• Salt, and lots of pepper (if possible good pepper, me I use Kampot pepper because I'm a snob)

When I say "splash", honestly I don't even know what it means, but let's say it's the equivalent of a big soup spoon in my head.

Alright, here we go for the cooking!

• Cut all your courgettes, your pepper and your eggplant into small cubes, slice your onions into thin strips. Also cut 3 cloves of garlic in half, keep the other 3 cloves whole for later.

• Sauté your onions in a bit of oil, with a little salt. When they're well cooked (a bit translucent), add the pepper and your courgettes, and a bit of olive oil. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes, then add the eggplant and the three sliced garlic cloves, and there you can cook it all for a good dozen minutes more, until it reduces a bit.

• Once the vegetable mixture has reduced a little, add a bit more olive oil (because yum), and add the two cans of tomatoes, the splash of red wine (not mandatory), the splash of lemon, some herbes de Provence, salt, lots of pepper and the sugar (but really you're not obliged for the sugar either).

• Finish by pressing in the three remaining garlic cloves, and the pinch of chili. If you like eating spicy, you can obviously add tons more.

Cook it all, stirring regularly, for at least 30 minutes, over low heat. The idea is for it to reduce; personally I let the thing reduce for 1h30 when I have the time. In any case taste as you go, and when it's delicious, serve :p

Ratatouille is delicious hot, cold, and obviously "reheated the next day", so I flat-out advise you to double all the proportions if you have a suitable dish!

It goes very well with little sautéed potatoes for example, or whatever you want really, ratatouille is good with everything!

Thanks to Caroline for taking a photo of my latest batch, it's the one illustrating this article :p

Photo credit: DR

By Paingout