by Caroline St Clare

Created on: July 19, 2011   Last Updated: November 27, 2011

The younger generation may not relish the idea of eating ratatouille, particularly if they associate the name with a certain Disney Pixar animated rat! Surprisingly, despite the number of vegetables included in this traditional French dish, children tend to enjoy eating it from an early age. Ratatouille is a healthy and simple dish to prepare and it can be eaten as a complete meal in itself or as the vegetable accompaniment to a main meal.

Ratatouille can be cooked on the stove top or in the oven and the only time consuming part is in the preparation of the vegetables. However, once they’re all done, they only take around twenty to thirty minutes to cook. This recipe uses the oven cook method which brings out the natural sweetness of the sweet potato and onions.

Ingredients for 6 servings:

1 large red onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
1 sweet potato
2 cloves of garlic
3 sprigs of thyme
1 tsp paprika
Fresh black pepper
A 14 ounce can of chopped tomatoes
Olive oil

Method for cooking in the oven:

Preheat the oven to 392 degrees F or 200 degrees C. Next you need to chop all your vegetables into similar sizes. Using a sharp knife, chop the eggplant into three quarter inch cubes, and the zucchini into quarter inch diagonal slices and cut the onion into chunks. Slice the peppers into strips about a quarter of an inch wide and finely shop the garlic. Peel and cut the sweet potato into half inch cubes.

Place all the ingredients into a large roasting tin, drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle the garlic, thyme and paprika on top. Finally, grate a generous amount of fresh black pepper over the whole lot before finally gently stirring in the chopped tomatoes.

Place the tin into the oven and leave for around 30-40 minutes to roast. Before turning the oven off, check from time to time to make sure all vegetables are cooked, especially the sweet potatoes as they tend to take longer to soften.

If you want to cook ratatouille on the stove top instead, prepare the vegetables as outlined above. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion until soft then add the zucchinis and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Tip them out into a large pan then add the eggplant, sweet potato and peppers to the frying pan with a little oil and fry for 4-5 minutes. Then transfer them to the saucepan together with the zucchinis and onion mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer it all together for 15-20 minutes while giving it an occasional stir.

You may come across several variations of the ingredients for ratatouille. However, any recipe should contain at the very minimum a combination of eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, onions and zucchini. Tasty additions can include mushrooms, cannellini beans and fresh basil. If you prefer to use fresh tomatoes rather than canned, you’ll need to blanch them in boiling water for around 10 seconds so you can easily remove the skins before cooking.

Ratatouille is a quick and easy dish to put together and has the added advantage of being extremely healthy, not to mention delicious. And if you’re feeling adventurous, ratatouille makes a tasty filling for a pie, an omelet or a baked potato and it goes perfectly with grilled fish. Ratatouille freezes well or you can store it, covered in the fridge for up to two days.

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