Rebekah Peppler's ratatouille, a deeply personal recipe, relies on a simple technique for creating a richly flavorful dish: cooking each vegetable separately. After just a few minutes in the pan, the vegetables release water, deepen in flavor, and become just tender enough to begin to break down. Finishing the stew with a generous portion of rosé melds the flavors together.
What is ratatouille?
Ratatouille is a mixed vegetable stew from Provence, in the south of France. It was created in Nice, France, and is a way to celebrate the harvest of late-summer vegetables in a budget-friendly dish. Ratatouille is traditionally made with tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, onions, and eggplant when they are at the peak of their season at the same time. Garlic, thyme, and basil are often added to the mix as well.
How do you make ratatouille?
Some cooks cook all the vegetables together, while others cook each separately to the desired texture, then combine everything, as Pepplar advises here. However you cook it, you want the vegetables to soften without turning into an indistinct bowl of mush.
How do you serve ratatouille?
Ratatouille was originally eaten as a main dish, but it can be served with chicken, lamb, seafood, or any protein. You can serve it warm or at room temperature over pasta or polenta, spooned over bread, in a sandwich, folded into an omelet, or in a tart or as a pie. While you can eat ratatouille the day you make it, it is even better the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to meld.
