This recipie is also from the Bittman book How to Cook Everything. Ratatouille is like jazz, a good friend (and chef) explained to me. There are lots of different ways to make it it. He ususally pan sautees everything separately and then tosses them together.
This recipie is slightly slimpler, but be prepared to do a lot of prep time for all the slicing of the veggies
1 sweet onion thinly sliced
1 eggplant sliced 1/4 inch think and salted to get out excess moisture, then rinse and pat dry
4 ripe tomatos, peeled, cored, seeded and sliced in thick rings
3 red peppers seeded, and sliced in rings
5 cloves of garlic (this is not a typo) cut in half
Fresh rosemary and parsley
Olive oil
After all the veggies are sliced, assemble in layers as follows: onions, eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes, garlic. Add the springs of fresh rosemary and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven for 1 hour periodically pressing down on the veggies.
This was yummy. The flavors melded so nicely together. We served it with a boule of olive oil and rosemary and goat cheese.
Fresh herbs are essential though.
[...] I made stock…i saved all the veggie ‘rests’ from my Ratatouille and added asparagus ends, carrot and parsnip peels from tonight’s supper. I did neglect [...]
[...] time I made it, I did the oven baked from Bittman. I will try it a different way this [...]