How to cook apple ratatouille. Recipes for preparing vegetable stew - ratatouille, with a set of various vegetables. Quick recipe in a frying pan

Classic ratatouille in the oven, step-by-step recipe with photos

Ratatouille is a famous French dish that is prepared from fresh vegetables with the addition of aromatic Provençal herbs, olive oil and meaty tomato sauce. Provence, a region in France, is considered the birthplace of the dish. Ratatouille is very popular in Nice, where it is served in almost all restaurants and cafes. Today, ratatouille is considered one of the most sought-after vegetable dishes around the world. You can’t say that he owes the history of his origin to the poor. From everything that was grown in the garden, they tried to prepare the most delicious food and used various tricks for this, using not only spices and additives, but also very beautifully arranging the finished food. Do you remember how beautiful the dish of the mouse Remy from the Disney cartoon called “Ratatouille” looked? The main character prepared French ratatouille in the oven, beautifully placing vegetables cut into rings in a mold and baking them. And although many French chefs claim that classic ratatouille is prepared in a frying pan, in the oven the dish also turns out very tasty and very beautiful.

By the way, after the release of the Disney cartoon, ratatouille began to be ordered 4 times more often in cafes and restaurants. And we will prepare a popular French dish according to the recipe of the main character, the mouse, at home. Of course, it’s a pity that the mouse didn’t have step-by-step photos. But we have, and this greatly simplifies the process.

Ingredients:

700 g zucchini;
700 g eggplant;
200 g sweet pepper;
1 kg of sweet tomatoes;
400 g onions;
2-3 medium cloves of garlic;
a ring of hot red pepper;
olive oil;
2-3 tbsp. Sahara;
several sprigs of parsley;
2-3 sprigs of basil;
fresh or dried thyme;
salt and pepper to taste.

How to cook ratatouille in the oven, step-by-step recipe with photos

1. Wash the eggplants, remove the stems, cut into rings of approximately the same thickness, approximately 3 mm. If the vegetables are old, the skin will be very tough and will need to be removed. This will not affect the taste of the dish at all, except perhaps on the appearance.

2. Place in a deep bowl, add salt and mix. Many people skip this point, which is found in almost every eggplant recipe, and in vain. Eggplants mixed with salt release juice, which removes the bitterness, and the vegetables themselves become softer and more pleasant to taste.

3. While the little blue ones undergo the necessary procedure, we can move on to other vegetables. Peel and chop the onion.

4. Simmer it in a saucepan, a thick-bottomed pan with a non-stick coating, or in a frying pan in a small amount of olive oil.

5. The fire should be minimal, no need to fry. The onion needs to become transparent.

6. For the sauce, choose 1 of the ugliest tomatoes. We make cuts on top of it and place the tomato in a deep bowl (described in detail in the recipe for ratatouille in a frying pan). Pour boiling water over it, let stand for 5-10 minutes and drain the water. Peel off the skin and chop the tomato pulp as desired.

7. Add to the onion and mix.

8. Peel the bell pepper from seeds, rinse, and cut into small cubes. Add to vegetables for sauce.

9. Salt, pepper, add hot pepper.

10. Mix thoroughly and simmer over low heat under a closed lid until the vegetables are soft.

11. At this time, chop fresh herbs: parsley, basil and thyme.

12. As you can see in the photo, the vegetable mass for the sauce has noticeably boiled down, and the vegetables themselves have released their juice and become very soft.

13. Puree the resulting mixture using a blender.

14. Since a lot of tomatoes are used to prepare the French dish, ratatouille when baked in the oven turns out to be sour. And sugar, which we will add to the sauce to taste, will help level out tomato acid.

15. Remove the sauce from the heat, add the herbs and mix thoroughly. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. The sauce should be a little sweeter, since the dish will also contain tomatoes, the acidity of which also needs to be removed.

16. The sauce is ready. Place about half in a baking dish.

17. The eggplant rings have released their juice. Drain it, rinse thoroughly and squeeze out the eggplants.

18. Cut the zucchini into the same thin rings. If the fruits are young, we use them together with the peel, which contains many vitamins.

19. Cut the tomatoes into thin rings. Use fruits that are fleshy and dense to prevent them from falling apart.

20. Place sliced vegetable rings one by one on the vegetable bed, as the classic recipe with photo calls for. Even raw, ratatouille looks very beautiful. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top and add salt and pepper.

21. Wrap in foil or cover the baking dish with a tight-fitting lid. Vegetables should simmer in the oven in their own juice. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for an hour and a half.

22. Afterwards, remove the foil.

23. Add garlic to the second half of the sauce and mix.

24. Spread with ratatouille sauce.

25. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes, but without covering.

Classic ratatouille is ready in the oven. Most often it serves as an independent dish, but, in addition, it perfectly complements meat and fish. And if you serve a fresh baguette with a dish of aromatic baked eggplants, tomatoes and zucchini in sauce, you will be able to experience the real flavors of France. Bon appetit!

Ratatouille is a famous Provençal vegetable dish similar to a stew, saute or lecho. All the ingredients are common and can be found in every garden (or grocery store). Cubes of lightly fried vegetables hold their shape perfectly and give the dish their bright taste.

The most important thing about ratatouille

The required ingredients of a classic ratatouille are onions, bell peppers, garlic, zucchini and tomatoes. Modern cooking options allow for the presence of other ingredients - eggplant, celery root, carrots, potatoes and even pumpkin. In addition to them, you will definitely need olive oil, herbs (cilantro, basil, dill, mint, parsley or cumin) and spices (coriander, rosemary or thyme).

Preparation of vegetables is standard: wash thoroughly, remove seeds and peel if necessary, cut into large cubes or thin slices. If the eggplant and zucchini included in ratatouille are still young, then they do not need to be peeled. In any case, remove the skin from the tomato. The easiest way to do this is to pour boiling water over the fruit. Peeled garlic cloves can not be cut, but slightly flattened by pressing with the handle of a knife.

The best companion for ratatouille is meat (pork, lamb or beef), but it also goes well with fried potato slices or boiled rice. But all kinds of cutlets, seafood and eggs are best served separately, however, this rule has its exceptions.

Ingredients

potatoes – 3 pcs.
carrots – 1 pc.
onion – 1 head
zucchini – 1 small
sweet pepper – 2-3 pcs.
tomato – 2 pcs.
salt, allspice - to taste
sunflower oil - approximately 0.3 tbsp.

Preparation

Vegetable ratatouille must be prepared from fresh vegetables. They are very juicy, have a bright taste, and they contain more than enough vitamins. The recipe for this dish is simple - fry the ratatouille over high heat for just a few minutes after adding the new ingredient (so cook all the vegetables first and then fry them). Add salt and seasonings at the very end, when you have already removed the pan from the heat. And the last tip is to cook ratatouille with the lid open, and stir the vegetables only lightly so as not to turn the dish into vegetable porridge.

So, the first ingredient is potatoes. Foremost. Although it is not the brightest in appearance and taste, it deftly combines all the ingredients into one whole and gives the dish the necessary richness. Wash the tubers, peel and chop into cubes.

Pour a sufficient amount of sunflower oil into the frying pan and heat it well. Fry the potato cubes over high heat, turning them occasionally. Now you do not fry the potatoes until cooked, but only achieve a slightly golden crust.

As soon as it appears, add carrots. This vegetable also needs to be pre-washed, peeled and chopped into cubes.

Stir gently. Wait a few minutes. Now add onions. First, the onion head must be peeled and chopped.

Then add the zucchini. Young zucchini can be safely added to the dish along with the core and peel. You just need to wash it well and also chop it into cubes.

Don’t forget that you need to mix the vegetables in just a couple of movements, so that the plate then shows off appetizing vegetable cubes and not mush. Now add the pepper to the pan. Pre-washed, peeled and seeds removed, and finely chopped.

Stir gently, wait a few minutes, add the diced tomatoes and remove the pan from the heat.

Now you can add salt, pepper, finely chopped herbs or your favorite seasonings. Vegetable ratatouille is ready. Serve hot or warm.

Ratatouille – more recipes

Ratatouille with pumpkin

Ingredients for the recipe:

3 eggplants and zucchini,
6 tomatoes
2 bell peppers of each color (yellow, green and red),
1 small pumpkin (elongated)
7-8 cloves of garlic,
2 onions,
1-2 tbsp. l. balsamic vinegar,
2 stalks thyme,
2-3 sprigs of parsley,
1 bay leaf,
salt and olive oil (to taste).

Cooking method:

1. Prepare the vegetables. Remove bell peppers from seeds and cut into small cubes. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel the tomatoes and finely chop half of them.

2. Fry the onion in heated olive oil. Once it becomes translucent, add garlic cubes to it. While continuing to fry the vegetables over high heat, add the tomato cubes, thyme and bay leaf to the pan. Reduce the heat and simmer with the lid closed for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile, peel and cut the zucchini, pumpkin, eggplant and remaining tomatoes into slices.
Add diced bell peppers to the stewing vegetables. Once they are soft, add finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Remove vegetables from heat.

4. Place a little tomato-pepper sauce on the bottom of a baking sheet greased with olive oil, and place slices of vegetables on it in alternating layers, filling each new approach with a small amount of sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over all vegetable layers.

5. Cover the baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Place in an oven preheated to 130 degrees for 2 hours. 20 minutes before turning off, open the pan and let the vegetables lightly fry.
Before serving, drizzle the ratatouille with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Ratatouille on BBQ

Ingredients for the recipe:

2 eggplants and zucchini,
1 bell pepper of each color (green and yellow),
3 tomatoes
half a lemon,
50 grams of parmesan,
2 onions,
2-3 cloves of garlic,
salt, Provençal herbs and olive oil (to taste).

Cooking method:

1. Cut the zucchini and eggplant into slices. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Onions - in thick rings, garlic - in thin slices, and bell pepper - in strips.

2. Place the vegetables in a deep bowl, sprinkle with Provençal herbs, pour in olive oil, stir and leave to soak in each other’s juices for 40-50 minutes.

3. After this time, fry the vegetables on a very hot grill until cooked.
Place them on a dish, add salt, pour over lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley and grated Parmesan.

The following recipes are precisely the exceptions mentioned above. And despite the fact that traditionally ratatouille is not combined with seafood and fish, in these two cases the taste of the vegetable dish is revealed in a completely new way, and the recipes will certainly find their connoisseurs.

Ratatouille with tuna

Ingredients for the recipe:

200 grams of tuna, canned in its own juice,
3 zucchini or zucchini
2 onions,
6-7 tomatoes,
2 green bell peppers,

Cooking method:

1. Prepare your food. Remove the skins of tomatoes and zucchini, and remove the seeds from bell peppers. Cut the vegetables into cubes. Finely chop the onion. Mash the tuna with a fork.

2. Separately from each other, fry the zucchini and bell pepper cubes in heated olive oil, add a little water to them if necessary and simmer until tender.
In a third frying pan, fry the onion, add the tomato mixture and simmer until the mixture resembles a sauce.

3. Combine zucchini, bell pepper and tomato-onion sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Warm everything together over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add canned fish, stir and serve immediately.

Ratatouille with squid

Ingredients for the recipe:

4 squid carcasses,
2 onions,
2 green bell peppers,
3 eggplants and zucchini,
5 tomatoes
3-4 cloves of garlic,
spices and olive oil (to taste).

Cooking method:

1. Peel all vegetables, except bell peppers, and cut into small cubes. Cut the squid and seeded pepper into strips.

2. In heated olive oil, fry the onion until transparent and add all the other vegetables in the following sequence: eggplant, pepper, zucchini, tomatoes and garlic. After frying each of the ingredients, add salt to the dish and, reducing the heat, simmer until cooked.

3. Roll the squid strips in flour on all sides and fry until golden brown in a separate frying pan.

4. Serve the vegetable ratatouille in a deep bowl, sprinkled with squid strips on top.

When preparing the eggplants, cut them into thin slices, sprinkle generously with salt and set aside for at least half an hour. Be sure to drain the juice that has released during this time, and lightly squeeze the eggplants themselves and clean them of the remaining salt. This will not only rid the vegetable of excess water, but also soften its bitter taste. You should do the same with zucchini.

When cutting tomatoes into slices, make a cut in the direction across the lobe bags. Thanks to this, less juice will leak out when slicing, and, therefore, the dish itself will be juicier.

The tomato sauce that is poured over the layers of vegetables should have a sweetish taste. If the tomatoes you use are too sour, add a little sugar to the sauce.

When preparing ratatouille in the oven, cover the pan with parchment paper rather than foil. On the one hand, this measure will help avoid the appearance of a crust on top, on the other hand, it will allow excess moisture to evaporate.

Do not prepare ratatouille in advance, as the tomatoes it contains are rich in acid, which can irrevocably ruin the taste of the dish. As a last resort, prepare ratatouille without tomato sauce and add it just before serving.

Never place ratatouille that has just come out of the oven on the table. It must stand for at least 10 minutes and soak in its own aromas and juices.

RATATOUILLE IDEAS

Ratatouille is a vegetable dish that gained popularity after the release of the cartoon of the same name. The main ingredients of the recipe are eggplants, fresh tomatoes and zucchini. Vegetables are cooked in tomato sauce, thanks to which they soften and are saturated with juice and aroma.

The popular cartoon shows the author's serving of ratatouille, in which the ingredients are cut into identical circles and laid out in a circle. Today we will reproduce this serving method and cook the sensational vegetable ratatouille in the oven - a recipe with photos will make our task easier step by step!

Ingredients:

eggplants - 2 pcs.;
zucchini - 1-2 pcs.;
fresh tomatoes - 3-4 pcs.;
garlic - 2-3 cloves;
vegetable oil - 5 tbsp. spoon;
mixture of herbs (basil, thyme, etc.) - 1/2 teaspoon;
fresh parsley - to taste;
salt, pepper - to taste.

For the sauce:

fresh tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
onion - 1 pc.;
bell pepper - 2 pcs.;
chili pepper (optional) - ½ piece;
vegetable oil - 1-2 tbsp. spoons;
salt, pepper - to taste.

Ratatouille recipe with photos step by step in the oven (classic recipe)

Let's start with the ratatouille sauce. After cutting off the stalks, as well as cleaning all the seeds and removing the soft partitions, we place the bell peppers in the oven. Maintain at a temperature of 220 degrees for about 30 minutes. When the vegetable skin begins to darken, remove the pan from the oven.
Immediately place the hot peppers in a plastic bag to steam and soften.
Peel the tomatoes. To do this, make cuts in the peel, pour boiling water over the tomatoes and leave for 5 minutes, then rinse with cold water. After such actions, the softened skin will come off very easily.
Peeled tomatoes, cutting out the stalk, chop into small cubes.
In a saucepan or small ladle, adding 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, sauté finely chopped onion until soft. Next, add tomatoes and, if desired, chopped hot chili. Simmer everything together for about 10 minutes.
Finely chop the cooled sweet peppers and add them to the tomato mixture. Sprinkle the vegetable mixture with salt and add chopped parsley. To enhance the flavor, you can add a spoonful of tomato paste or ketchup to the sauce, but this is not necessary. Continue keeping the mixture on the fire for another 5 minutes.
How to bake ratatouille in the oven
Zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes, washed and dried, cut into thin slices. To get rid of bitterness, sprinkle chopped eggplants with salt and leave for 10 minutes, then rinse.
Spread the prepared sauce in an even layer in a round heat-resistant dish. On top, alternating, place sliced vegetables in a circle. Lightly sprinkle with salt/pepper.
Separately combine vegetable oil (5 tablespoons), finely chopped garlic and a mixture of herbs. Stir.
Lubricate the assorted vegetables with aromatic oil. Covering with a sheet of foil, place the pan in a hot oven. Bake for about an hour, maintaining the temperature at 180 degrees.
Then remove the sheet of foil and brown the vegetables for 30 minutes. After removing from the oven, add fresh herbs to the ratatouille.
Serve the vegetables warm along with the tomato sauce in which they were cooked.

Ratatouille is ready in the oven! Let's start tasting the popular dish. Bon appetit!

Five centuries ago, French peasants from the southern province of Provence began preparing a vegetable dish called ratatouille. Or maybe they prepared it before, but history is silent about this at this point in time. And how surprised they would be now if they learned that this popular summer dish is prepared by all the famous chefs in all the famous restaurants in the world.

It would seem like a simple vegetable vegetarian dish, why has it become so popular? However, the same question can be asked in relation to such dishes as,.

Somehow I accidentally came across an answer in one of the magazines, although by that time the question had not yet been asked, which I remember to this day. The idea sounded something like this: “the most popular dishes are those that absolutely anyone can cook, even those who have never cooked at all. And the name of such a dish should be memorable; you want to say it again and again. It's like a song that plays in your head. And it’s hard to get rid of this song, and you say this title again and again.”

The names of all these dishes are really very poetic. And just hearing them, you immediately feel that it’s delicious, and even if you’ve never tried it, you definitely want to cook it and try it.

I remember my mother preparing this dish when I was a child. When I asked what she was cooking, she invariably answered, “This dish is ratatouille! Eat it and dance!” But it is true, its name invariably brings a smile and a good mood, so you can dance.

And apparently under the same impression, American director Brad Bird created his famous cartoon - a comedy of the same name, which received an Oscar. Where the little rat Remy also prepares a dish - ratatouille.

Come on, with a smile and a good mood, we will also prepare this French dish today. And not even one, but several.

The product calculation is given for a round mold with a diameter of 23 cm, for 3-4 servings.

We will need:

eggplant – 1 – 2 pcs (depending on size)
zucchini - 1 - 2 pieces (depending on size)
tomatoes -4-5 pcs
bell pepper - 2 pcs
onion - 1 pc.
garlic - 2 cloves
mixture of Provencal herbs - 1-1.5 teaspoons
paprika - 1 teaspoon
olive oil - 4 tbsp. spoons (you can use 5)
salt, ground black pepper - to taste

Preparation:

1. Wash the vegetables and let them dry.

2. Cut the onion into cubes. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion in it. There is no need to fry too much; the onions should simmer rather than fry.

3. While it is simmering, peel and cut the bell pepper into cubes. If you have red peppers, it will be just wonderful! Ratatouille will turn out bright and beautiful.

As soon as the onion becomes soft, add pepper to it. Fry everything together for 5 minutes.

4. Pour boiling water over one red tomato, remove the skin and finely chop. Add to the pan. Fry for 3 minutes.

5. Add water or vegetable broth. I always freeze the broth left over from boiling vegetables in the freezer. Right now it will come in handy for me. I add cubes, they will give a liquid volume of approximately 500 ml. Let it boil.

6. Meanwhile, crush the garlic with a knife and then chop it as finely as possible. Also prepare a mixture of Provençal herbs and paprika for color and taste. Tomatoes are no longer summer, and not so bright and juicy, so paprika will provide the missing sweetness and brightness.

7. Add garlic and spices to the vegetables, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes until the spices infuse the sauce with flavor, turn off the heat and cover with a lid. Let the aroma of Provençal herbs reveal itself with all its strength.

8. Meanwhile, cut the eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes into slices.

It should be noted that it is best for all vegetables to have the same diameter when cutting. This will make it easier to place them in the mold.

My eggplants turned out to be somewhat larger than everything else, and so I had to tinker with laying them out. But what to do, winter is already upon us, and I had to buy eggplants as they were.

9. Prepare a form in which we will place the vegetables. The shape can be either round or square; both large and small - just for one serving.

I have a round mold with a diameter of 23 cm. I will put vegetables in it. But first, put a little sauce on the bottom, just to cover it.

10. You need to lay out one by one, alternating light and dark colors; try to follow the sequence of laying out the vegetables so that one always follows the other.

For variety of colors I use both red and yellow tomatoes. Let me boast, my yellow tomatoes are from the garden, they are still stored, and they are not even in the refrigerator.

And so a circle of red tomato, then zucchini, yellow tomato and eggplant - it turns out quite beautiful.

11. Arrange vegetables in a spiral. And when you're done, you need to add a little salt and pepper, and then put the rest of the sauce on top. This will prevent the vegetables from drying out and will prevent them from overcooking.

12. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the dish with ratatouille in the oven and bake for 1 hour.

After 40 minutes, look into the oven, and if you see that the top has begun to brown too much, cover the dish with foil.

I didn't need it. The sauce turned out to be quite enough to make the dish beautiful and not “cooked”.

13. After the time is up, remove the dish from the oven, cover with a lid and let it stand and rest for 10-15 minutes.

14. Then place portions on plates, also in the form of a spiral, picking up the “spiral” with a wide spatula. You can decorate the top with greenery.

You can eat ratatouille either hot or cold. It is equally delicious in any form.

How to cook ratatouille with minced meat, chicken fillet and other meat products

I don’t know if it’s possible to call such dishes the word ratatouille, because in traditional French recipes there is no meat in the dish. But still, I will take the liberty of calling them this way, as an exception!

How to cook? All ingredients and the entire cooking process can be left as in the first option. And meat products can be used as follows:

using chicken fillet. Cut the fillet into thin slices, similar in size to vegetable slices, and place them in an additional layer in a spiral.
using minced meat. Fry the minced meat along with onions, peppers and tomatoes. Place all the sauce on the bottom of the mold. Then arrange the vegetables in a spiral. There is no need to fill it with anything, but bake it covered with foil. Otherwise the vegetables will be dry.
using minced meat - option 2. Prepare minced meat, stir in the white of one egg, add salt and pepper. Mix the minced meat well and beat it. Then form small thin cutlets and place them in a vegetable “spiral” in a separate layer. Pour the sauce over the top, in which case the foil may not be necessary.
using bacon. Place the bacon in a vegetable “spiral”, folding the piece in half.
using lard. In Languedoc, pieces of smoked lard (lardon) are added to ratatouille for satiety. I've never tried it, but it must be delicious! And the smell of smoked meat is probably not too bad either!

Homemade recipe with milk and cheese sauce

We will need:

eggplant – 1 – 2 pcs (450 g)
zucchini – 1 – 2 pcs (450 g)
red pepper - 1 pc.
yellow and green peppers - 1 pc.
tomatoes - 2-3 pcs (large)
tomato juice - 1.5 cups
olive oil - 4 tbsp. spoons
salt, pepper - to taste
mixture of Provencal herbs - 1.5-2 teaspoons
mint leaves
greens - for decoration

For the sauce:

hard cheese - 80 gr
butter - 50 g
flour - 1 tbsp. spoon
milk - 220 ml
salt, pepper - to taste

Preparation:

Before I start describing the recipe, I’ll note that I prepared this recipe at the end of the gardening season. And all my vegetables turned out to be of different sizes. It is impossible to make a beautiful vegetable spiral from such vegetables, and so I prepared it using a form that is not quite traditional for ratatouille. But, if you remember that this dish is nothing more than a vegetable stew baked in the oven, there are no violations here.

In addition, there is an opportunity to show this dish in another version.

To prepare it, I use a glass oval mold measuring 28 x 23 cm.

1. Pour tomato juice into the mold. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and mix everything right in the pan.

2. Eggplants are somewhat bitter, so I cut them into slices, salt them and leave them for 20 minutes so that the bitterness comes out. Then lightly squeeze the eggplants. Place them in the first layer in tomato juice. Place mint leaves on top. Or you can replace it with a sprig of rosemary or thyme.

3. Also cut the zucchini into slices. And place on top of the eggplants.

4. Peel the bell pepper, removing the stem and seeds. Cut into slices and place on top of the zucchini slices.

5. Also cut the tomatoes into slices. They are my own, from the garden - very large, fleshy and sweet. That's good, the sauce will be just right.

6. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cover the pan with foil and press it firmly onto the pan. Place in the oven for 40 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, prepare milk and cheese sauce. It is prepared in almost the same way as Bechamel sauce. At the end of the description of this recipe, I will remind you how it is done.

8. After 40 minutes, take out the pan and remove the foil. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and put them back in the oven. This time for 10-15 minutes. The top should be covered with a beautiful golden brown crust.

9. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and chopped herbs.

10. Serve directly in the form. Spread the ratatouille with a large, wide spatula, scooping out all the layers.

11. Eat with pleasure and enjoy the taste!

Making milk cheese sauce

1. Place butter in a frying pan and melt it.

2. Gradually add flour to the butter, stirring constantly. The oil should not be very hot, otherwise both it and the flour will start to burn. In this case, the sauce will turn out dark and will not have a tasty smell.

3. As soon as the flour is slightly fried and a slight nutty smell appears, pour in the milk in a thin stream, continuing to stir all the time so that lumps do not form, add a little salt and pepper.

4. Add cheese, leave a little for decoration. Continuing to stir, bring the mixture to a boil. As soon as it starts to thicken a little, remove from heat.

You don’t have to add cheese to the sauce, but simply sprinkle it on a ready-made hot dish,

Ratatouille with sour cream and egg sauce

We will need:

eggplant - 1-2 pcs
zucchini - 1-2 pcs
tomato - 4 pcs
bell pepper - 1-2 pcs
onion - 1 pc.
Provencal herbs - 1.5 teaspoons
paprika - 1 teaspoon
olive oil - 4 tbsp. spoons
butter - 1 tbsp. spoon
salt, ground black pepper - to taste

For the sauce:

egg - 3 pcs
sour cream - 200 gr
salt. ground black pepper - to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut the onion and bell pepper, seeded and stalked, into cubes. Remove the skin from one tomato, scald it with boiling water, and also cut into cubes.

2. Fry the onion, add bell pepper and fry for another 2 minutes. Then add chopped tomato. Simmer everything together for 2-3 minutes. Add 0.5 liters of water or vegetable broth. And also spices, salt and pepper.

3. Cut eggplant, zucchini and three tomatoes into slices.

4. Grease the pan with butter and arrange the vegetables either in a spiral shape or in layers.

5. Cover with foil and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees.

6. Prepare the sauce. To do this, mix sour cream, eggs, salt and pepper using a fork.

7. Take out the pan, remove the foil and pour the sauce over the vegetables.

8. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the ratatouille is golden brown.

9. Take out the mold and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Serve directly in the form. And then arrange on plates.

This dish is very tasty both hot and cold. And I like it even better when it cools down.

Quick recipe in a frying pan

As I said above, ratatouille can also be prepared in pieces, like... This is done much faster, especially since in this recipe we do not bake the vegetables in the oven, but stew them in a frying pan.

We will need:

The recipe contains a fairly large number of ingredients, so you can proportionally reduce them at your discretion.

eggplant - 3 pcs
zucchini - 6 pcs
onions - 3 pcs.
bell pepper -3 pcs
tomato sauce – 400 gr
garlic - 3 teeth
olive oil - 4 tbsp. spoons
basil - 50 gr
salt, pepper - to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut the onion into cubes. Chop the garlic. And fry in a frying pan with high sides in oil.

2. Cut all vegetables into medium-sized pieces and add to the pan. Simmer slightly over low heat with the lid closed, stirring occasionally.

3. Add tomato juice. Stir, salt and pepper to taste.

4. Simmer until the vegetables are ready, about 30-40 minutes.

According to this recipe, ratatouille is prepared very quickly and turns out delicious. It can be eaten as an independent dish, or served as a side dish for meat.

Ratatouille in Languedoc style

I found this recipe on the Internet, where it was written that it belongs to chef Annette Tech from a restaurant in Languedoc. To my deepest regret, I didn’t find any information about it, but I liked the recipe. Therefore, I share it with great pleasure.

We will need (for 6 servings):

eggplant - 2 pcs
zucchini - 6 pcs
bell peppers of three colors - 3 pcs (one at a time)
tomatoes - 1 kg
onion - 2 pcs
garlic - 3 cloves
olive oil - for frying
fresh thyme - 4 sprigs
bay leaf - 3 pcs
raspberry vinegar - 1 tbsp. spoon (I used regular 9%)
parsley - 4-5 sprigs
juice of half a lemon
sugar - 0.5 tsp

Preparation:

1. Peel the onion and cut into cubes.

2. Make a cross-shaped cut on the tomatoes and scald them with boiling water. Then drain the water and peel the tomatoes. Then cut them into cubes.

3. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil and place the washed and dried peppers on it. Bake for 10 minutes at 175 degrees. Then put them in a plastic bag, tie them and leave for 20 minutes.

When the peppers have cooled, remove the stem, seeds and cut into cubes.

4. Cut the eggplants and zucchini into cubes. Sauté each vegetable in a frying pan separately, adding a little olive oil. And also add salt and pepper separately to taste.

While frying, pour lemon juice over the eggplants.

Add sugar to tomatoes. Put them out last.

5. Heat olive oil in a saucepan, just a little. The fire should be small. Add fried onions, zucchini and eggplants, add bell peppers and mix gently.

6. Increase heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring continuously. Then add chopped garlic, and after 3 - 4 minutes add salt, if necessary.

7. Season the ratatouille with stewed tomatoes. Add finely chopped parsley, thyme and bay leaf.

8. Pour in vinegar. Stir and leave to simmer, covered with a lid, for 30-40 minutes.

The finished dish can be served both hot and cold. And also as a separate dish or as a side dish.

I think that now everyone will be able to cook the ratatouille they want. All recipes are quite easy to prepare and anyone can make them. And I think even those who have never cooked anything at all.

And in conclusion, I want to say a few more words about this wonderful Provençal dish, so to speak - to sum it up.

Cooking features

Ratatouille is a vegetarian dish, which is originally prepared from tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers. onions and garlic. Subsequently, eggplant was added to it, which added its unforgettable note of taste to this palette.

When preparing it, it must be seasoned with Provençal herbs, including basil, thyme, fennel, rosemary, mint, cumin... Without them, the dish is simply unthinkable! The amount of herbs added and their composition determines how the dish itself will turn out! They also add truffles to the dish, but for us this is already a luxury!

The ingredients are cut into circles, which are laid out alternately. But to speed up the cooking process, you can cut them into cubes. Ratatouille is essentially a vegetable stew, as they used to call it in Russia, and in Bulgaria they call it lecho. In other countries, the dish has different names.

It should also be noted that although this dish is considered vegetarian, there are recipes where meat, chicken, bacon and even lard are added to it during cooking. My husband, for example, does not accept vegetarian dishes at all. And he can only eat ratatouille that contains meat products. Therefore, I try not to torment it too much, and cook it with either minced meat or chicken. In this case, both vegetables and meat are cooked at the same time.

I also know many men who do not accept meat-free dishes. So in this case, don’t give up ratatouille altogether! You can cook vegetables and meat separately - this is also a good option. And if separately baked chicken is also served along with vegetables, then the man will definitely remain full and, most importantly, satisfied!

Recently, chefs around the world have begun to experiment a lot with this dish. And if previously the composition of products was strictly regulated by the main ingredients, now they began to add potatoes, pumpkin and even green beans to it. They also began to add rice and other grains. It is prepared with cheese and Bechamel sauce, baked, stewed, steamed and grilled.

What to do? This is popularity! People want to eat their favorite dishes and don’t want to repeat themselves! Can anyone really be blamed for this? Maybe this will only add even more popularity to one of the most famous vegetable dishes.

After all, even if the composition of the ingredients may be the same for everyone, the taste will always be completely different. Which is generally great! Because everyone loves vegetables, and they can be prepared differently every time.

And I really hope that you will also cook ratatouille, and maybe one of my recipes will help you with this. And if you liked the recipes, then I will be very pleased to receive a response from you in the form of a comment or a click on social networks! Thank you in advance!

And Bon Appetit!

Food - there is so much in this word! Taste, aroma, beauty! Just gourmets can be different.

Some of them are delighted with home cooking, dumplings and fried potatoes, while others are crazy about gourmet cuisine and learn to cook profiteroles with cheese cream. How to combine the extravaganza of taste and ease of preparation? Prepare ratatouille and please your family with a simple and flavorful dish.

What is ratatouille

Let's be honest, in our country ratatouille gained fame after the release of the cartoon of the same name about a funny little rat who dreamed of cooking all his life and believed that anyone could become a cook. In the hands, or rather paws, of this cute cartoon character, a banal piece of cheese turned into a masterpiece, as its taste was enriched with seasonings and sauces. And then one day, little rat Remy’s dream came true; he got a unique opportunity to cook in a real kitchen. It turned out that he really succeeds. Original soups, delicate creams, cakes with airy layers and ratatouille, which Remy treated the food critic who dropped in to ruin the careers of the restaurant workers.

Why did Remy choose ratatouille? Because in my heart I understood that it was precisely with such a seemingly simple, but incredibly soulful dish that one could evoke a note of real feeling in this professional to the core. Let's say a few words about how to cook ratatouille. The recipe is simple and attractive. This is a traditional vegetable dish of Provencal cuisine, in many ways similar to Hungarian lecho. The name of the dish comes from the French Ratatouille, more specifically, rata - “food”, and touiller - “to stir”. Actually, the whole meaning of the word lies in the name.

What is the history of ratatouille?

How to prepare a dinner that everyone will enjoy? This question is asked by all housewives and women busy with their careers. You can’t please everyone: men want something richer and tastier, women take care of their figure, and children do not accept boring dishes.

So the correct answer was found. Ratatouille was originally prepared by small peasants living in the area of modern Nice. In the summer they collected fresh vegetables and baked them. Traditionally, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic were used for cooking. Later they began to add eggplants there. Harmoniously combined with each other, the vegetables were soaked in juice and presented a play of colors and tastes. Looks amazing and smells great!

How to cook ratatouille? The recipe in the cartoon of the same name was the author's with original serving.

Local spices were used as seasonings: the famous Provencal herbs, which are present in abundance in the kitchen of a good cook. Fennel, cumin, rosemary, mint and basil were added. Imagine this aroma. This combination transforms every dish beyond recognition. The result is an Italian-Mediterranean dish in essence and French in form. Ratatouille has “brothers” all over the world. In Hungary it is lecho, in Spain it is pisto, and in Italy it is caponata. In Russia, ratatouille is called a vegetable stew, adding greens to taste.

Classic is most important

Let's figure out how to cook ratatouille in its traditional variation. This is a spicy and tasty dish that is not inferior to meat in terms of beneficial qualities. Take a couple of eggplants, zucchini and about eight tomatoes. Also add pepper, garlic and onion. Tomato paste gives the dish a richer color, but you can add ketchup if desired. To make the dish more flavorful, take a few tablespoons of dry white wine, olive oil, a bunch of cilantro, parsley and basil. Remember that with the first ingredient you will learn how to make eggplant ratatouille, but without them you will get a classic recipe.

Continue cooking: chop the onion and garlic. Fry them in olive oil, adding chopped peppers as you go. Grate the tomatoes. By the way, do you know how to cook ratatouille if the tomatoes are not peeled? This, of course, is not a critical point, but it will be easier to grate tomatoes without skins for frying. Make an incision crosswise and scald the tomatoes with boiling water.

After a couple of seconds, the skin on the tomatoes will rise and it will be easy to remove. Add the tomato mass to the onion and garlic. Also add tomato paste diluted in half with water and white wine. Season the mixture with pepper and salt, and then leave to cool.

Stage two: preparing the base

If you are thinking about how to cook ratatouille, then learn to cut vegetables evenly and beautifully. Peel the zucchini and eggplant and then cut into thin slices. Do the same with tomatoes, just don’t remove the skin. Salt the chopped vegetables and add seasonings. Now lay out the vegetables in dense rows, alternating them for beauty and better taste. Now add chopped garlic and spices to taste. Pour tomato paste over the vegetables, and cover the dish with baking paper so as not to interfere with the evaporation of moisture. If you want, you can cook in a frying pan, although this is fraught with some disadvantages, but perhaps you are wondering how to cook ratatouille in the oven. As easy as pie! This is exactly the original version. Preheat the oven to maximum temperature and bake the ratatouille for about one hour. It is recommended to monitor the cooking process and evaluate the surface of the dish every 15-20 minutes.

Also focus on the smell. If the aromas make you dizzy, do not deny yourself the pleasure of trying a piece.

Bringing beauty to the table

Let the dish cool and carefully, like a cake, separate a portion with a spatula. We advise you to invite all your friends who don’t know how to cook ratatouille to your place. We guarantee that they will be delighted. The dish has an unsurpassed taste both cold and warm. Serve it on a large platter with a few drops of wine, sauce and herbs. It would also be good to serve the dish with toasted white bread.

Classic vegetarian menu

Great chefs around the world recommend ratatouille to vegans who come to restaurants with a tired look on their faces. And vegetarians are also delighted with this dish. After all, how to cook eggplant ratatouille? To do this, you don’t need to take anything fatty or unhealthy. Just vegetables and some seasonings. In addition to the vegetables listed, add zucchini and squash. Use young vegetables, as their taste is brighter and richer. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper. And if you want to include the dish in family meals, we recommend adding potatoes to it. This way it will be even more satisfying. If you want to do without oil at all, then consider how to cook ratatouille in a slow cooker. This way you can cook several dishes at the same time without the risk of burning.

At the end of the story

How did the story with the unusual little rat Remy end? He made the brave decision to impress the seasoned critic with such a simple dish as ratatouille. And when a beautifully decorated plate with portions of ratatouille was brought to the important gentleman, he just knitted his eyebrows, grinned incredulously, scribbled something in his notebook and took a little ratatouille on the tip of a spoon, tasted it - and his eyes flashed. In just one piece, he felt all the joy of his childhood, remembered his mother, who met him from school and placed a plate of ratatouille in front of his gloomy, but so beloved son. The critic remembered the warmth of his home and felt a tear roll down his cheek in a surge of emotion. Naturally, he approved of the dish and gave the restaurant the highest rating. This is how the story about this amazing dish from southern France ended.