Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a traditional Mediterranean dish made from ripe vegetables, it is simple yet vibrant.  It works equally well served hot or cold.  A great vegetarian dish which can take centre stage or be a strong accompaniment as a side to other dishes.

Some tips to help with cooking your ratatouille, use fresh ripe vegetables for the best flavour.  Take your time, as slow cooking enhances the taste by allowing the flavours to develop, which makes it perfect for cooking on your Big Green Egg or Kamado.

In this ratatouille recipe, we used fennel, as we had one in the fridge that needed using up and which brings back fond memories for Helena of her Dad’s ratatouille using fennel tops from their large family garden.  Use vegetables that you have to hand or are abundant after growing your own. You can also experiment with the seasoning, we used basil and oregano as we love this pairing with tomatoes, but you can use rosemary, herbs de Provence or any other herbs that you love.

Give it a go; a simple dish that is often overlooked but, with a bit of time and love, really is worth it!

Method

1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 180°C.
2. When your Egg is up to temperature, place a skillet in the Egg to heat up. We used the Solidteknics Bigga Skillet.
3. Meantwhile, start by preparing your vegetables, peel and chop the onions into quarters, finely slice the garlic.  Cut the ends off the aubergine, courgettes and fennel.  Remove the seeds from the pepper.  Chop all the veg into 2.5cm chunks.  Roughly chop the tomatoes.  Remove the basil leaves from the stalks.  Finely chop up the basil stalks.
4. Add the oil to your pan, once hot, add the chopped aubergine, courgettes, fennel and peppers and fry for about 5 minutes.  You’re looking for the vegetables to soften and be golden, but not cooked through (depending on the size of the pan, you may need to fry the vegetables in batches).  Remove the veg from the Egg and set aside in a bowl.
5. Next add the onion, garlic and basil stalks to the pan with a bit more oil if required.  Fry for about 10 minutes so it’s soft and golden.
6. Add the cooked veg to the pan; now add the fresh and tinned tomatoes and some balsamic and season with salt and black pepper.
7. Remove the pan from the Egg temporarily whilst you add the ConvEGGtor to your Egg to reduce the temperature, as you now want to reduce the heat and cook indirectly at 160°C for the remainder of the cooking time.
8. Put the pan back in the Egg and mix all the ingredients.  Use the back of your spoon to break up the tomatoes.  Simmer for 30 to 35 minutes or until reduced, sweet and sticky.
9. Tear the basil leaves and add to the pan, finely grate in the lemon zest and taste.  Adjust the seasoning if needed.
10. Remove from the pan, great served with crusty break or steamed rice.

On this occasion we serves it with chilli and lime roast potatoes and flat basket chicken.