This dish needs some patience during assembly, but can then be quickly forgotten in the oven for an hour.
You can find hundreds of different versions of this dish online, either adding peppers, or having the dish in the form of a stew - and we can't forget the famous Disney version of the dish.
I personally choose to keep the vegetables simple, and I bake ratatouille in a deep ceramic pie dish, however, if this isn't available, a metal dish of some sort will do too. It just needs to be quite deep, as this recipe will yield around four layers of vegetables, with a layer of sauce and feta cheese in between.
If served as a main, this will probably only serve 2 adults. If served as a side, it could easily serve 4. I sometimes cook this along with some sort of protein and a salad, but it's also wonderful served with warm garlic bread.
Ingredients
Sauce
5 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 cans chopped tomatoes (800gr total)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Fresh basil leaves (I used 5)
Vegetables
1 medium aubergine
2 small courgettes
1 medium red onion
Fresh basil
200gr feta cheese
Olive oil
Method
Preparation
1. Slice the aubergine into rounds, keeping the slices as thin as possible. Lay aubergine slices on a flat surface, sprinkle with salt, and set aside. This is important as we need to get as much water out of the aubergine as possible. I personally set the aubergine on a large chopping board, sprinkle with salt, cover with tissue, and lay another layer of aubergine on top, repeating until I'm done with the aubergine.
2. Slice the courgettes into rounds and the onion into half moons, keeping the slices thin. Set aside.
3. To make the sauce, chop the garlic and sauté in a pot with some olive oil. Add the chilli flakes and chopped tomatoes. When adding the chopped tomatoes, you may want to take a step back, as the oil will sizzle and spit. Add the salt, pepper, and fresh basil, and set on low heat for around 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced. The sauce should be thick enough that when running a spoon through it, the sauce doesn't spill back into the centre immediately. This is extremely important, as otherwise you'll be left with a very soggy dish.
4. Whilst the sauce reduces, crumble your feta into a separate bowl.
Assembly
This is potentially the more tedious part of making the dish. My first layer of vegetables starts off looking pretty nice and neat, however, by the second, it's all lost. I personally don't worry much about this - I'm less concerned about it being pretty, and am more interested in it tasting good.
1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.
2. You're going to start working from the outside in with your vegetables, creating circles. Aubergine, courgette, onion, repeat, until you finish the first circle and work your way inwards, until you've covered the bottom of the dish.
2. Spoon some of the sauce onto the vegetables, and spread it as well as you can. You will need enough sauce for roughly three layers, so ensure you leave enough for another two layers of sauce.
3. Lay a few leaves of basil down, and sprinkle with feta. Again, you will need around three layers of feta, so sprinkle accordingly.
4. Repeat the vegetable - sauce - basil - feta layering until you're out of vegetables. I personally prefer ending with a layer of vegetables on top so you can get a bit of a crisp to the ratatouille, but it's equally as yum if you finish off with the sauce, so entirely your call. Always finish off your last layer with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
5. Bake the ratatouille for 50 minutes to an hour. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, allowing it to set. Serve as a main dish or side.
Recreating this dish? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!
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