Recipe for Gérald Passedat’s Ratatouille My Way
This recipe for “Ratatouille My Way” is from Gérald Passedat’s new cookbook Flavors From The French Mediterranean. Ratatouille is a classic Provencal recipe that uses ingredients readily found in the region (tomatoes, zucchini, onions, eggplant). However, this version is prepared with the expertise of a master chef.
Gérald Passedat's Ratatouille My Way
Ingredients
- 7 oz. (200 g) Puff Pastry , ready prepared
- 4 medium White Onions
- 2/3 cup (150 ml) Passedat olive oil*
- 2 Red bell peppers
- 5 Plum tomatoes
- 2 medium Eggplants
- 3 medium Zucchini
- 4 Bay Leaves
- 2 sprigs Basil
- 2 sprigs Thyme
- to taste Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/Gas mark 4).
- Roll out the puff pastry thinly into a rectangle about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Drape the pastry over the rolling pin and unroll it onto a baking sheet.
- Place a wire cake rack on top and bake the pastry for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool a little, then cut into four 4 in. (10 cm) rounds using a plain pastry cutter.
- Peel and finely chop the onions and sweat them in a pan in a little olive oil.
- Season with salt and pepper and then cover the pan and stew the onions for 45 minutes.
- Drain through a sieve to remove excess oil. Reserve.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C/Gas mark 2).
- Wash all the remaining vegetables.
- Brush the bell peppers with olive oil and season. Lay on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, remove the stalks from the tomatoes and cut a cross with a small knife in the base of each tomato to make them easier to peel.
- Immerse in boiling water for a few seconds and then in cold water.
- Slip off the skins, quarter the tomatoes, remove the cores and seeds, and discard.
- Oil a baking sheet and lay the tomato quarters on it.
- Slice the eggplant and zucchini lengthways, leaving the skin on.
- Add the slices to the baking sheet with the tomatoes on it, spreading the vegetables out in a single layer.
- Season with salt and pepper and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.
- When the vegetables are cooked, cut them into even-sized rounds using a 1 in. (2.5 cm) plain pastry cutter.
- Spread the stewed onions over the pastry rounds and arrange the vegetables in overlapping rings on top.
- Make small bouquets with a few sprigs of basil and thyme and place in the center of the ratatouille “galettes.”
- Serve cold and drizzle with olive oil just before serving.
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