Cast Iron Ratatouille
YouTube: Ratatouille in Cast Iron
I never had a problem eating my veggies as I grew up; but I'd never heard of ratatouille until I saw the Pixar movie. Like many others, I was inspired to try making the final dish of "ratatouille" myself…even though technically, that's not a ratatouille! Ratatouille is only a simple dish of baked vegetable stew, and a presentation of arranged vegetable slices laid out on a baking dish, as we see in the movie Ratatouille by Pixar, is actually based upon a similar dish fron France called vegetable tian. When the movie was in production, Pixar commissioned a professional chef (Thomas Keller) to create the colorful rainbow of arranged vegetable slices laid out by Remy in the film, and he named this dish confit biyaldi.. Because of this, articles describing the ratatouille seen in the movie always call it a "confit biyaldi." Of course, the popularity of the movie has redefined ratatouille for millions of people worldwide, and so an artistically laid dish of sliced vegetables is now seen by many as ratatouille. Regardless of the name, this doesn't change the fact that this is a wonderful dish, any way you look at it: it looks beautiful, it is delicious, it is healthy, and it is incredibly easy to make! The only drawback, of course, is that it requires a lot of slicing to produce all of those vegetable slices. But the work is worth it, because the end result is a dish that will impress your family, friends, and dinner guests.
This dish is based upon the Smitten Kitchen blog's recipe for ratatouille. I've modified it slightly, especially so that it will work with a cast iron pan or baking dish.
Pans needed: 10-inch cast iron skillet, or larger. Also, an oven-safe lid for baking the dish. I actually prefer making this dish in a 12 inch cast iron skillet. Regardless of the dish used, there will always be leftover vegetables. This is a good thing!
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Ingredients
Vegetables: Ratatouille is essentially an eggplant and tomato casserole, though other vegetables can be added to the dish in order to blend in additional flavors. The selection of vegetables can be altered in many ways to suit your taste. You don't have to use all of the vegetables listed, and you can substitute your own favorites as you see fit. The tricky part is to find ones that are about the same width or diameter, so that your vegetable slices will be approximately the same size. You may need to slice some larger vegetables in half, lengthwise, so that their slices match the diameter of the other vegetables. You should also consider choosing vegetables in as wide a variety of colors as possible, to make the dish more pleasing to the eye. Considering this, here are my favorite vegetable selections for ratatouille, though you can add your own favorites to this list:
- Eggplant (purple) (After slicing, sprinkle salt onto your eggplant slices. This will help them stay firm and not fall apart when cooking.)
- Tomatoes (red)
- Summer squash (yellow)
- Zucchini (green)
- Turnips (white)
- Sweet onions (white)
- Sweet potatoes or yams (orange)
- Large carrots (also orange)
- Bell peppers of all colors - green, red, yellow, etc. One bell pepper is usually enough to add spice and flavor to this dish. (Look for narrow, long peppers with a width close to your other vegetables.)
- Cucumbers (green)
- If possible, I strongly recommend going to a Chinese or Asian market for the vegetables used in this dish. Some of the vegetables you can get an Asian market include:
- Chinese eggplant (purple): These are long and thin, in a size almost exactly the same as the zucchini and summer squas you can get at your local supermarket.
- Daikon radish (white): As with Chinese eggplant, daikon radish is very long and shaped similar to zucchini. Also, the flavor of daikon radish is slightly milder than typical American radishes.
- Also, Asian markets have possibly the biggest and widest carrots you may ever see.
For a ratatouille in a 10-inch diameter, cast iron skillet, use: one eggplant, two tomatoes, one summer squash, one zucchini, one turnip, and one additional vegetable of your choice.
(For the extra-large ratatouille dish pictured above, double the amount of ingredients; however, you still only need one each of the vegetables that make up the centerpiece of the dish. This recipe produces a lot of vegetable slices; and while you may run out of one or two vegetable entries, there will always be leftovers! )
- One or more large round tortilla flatbread shells, large enough to fit your pan. It may require three or more tortilla shells to fit a 12 inch pan.
- Base layer of sauce:
- 1/4 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/4 yellow or orange bell pepper, diced
- 1/4 yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- Spices to mix with tomatoes:
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Spices to top vegetables:
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Balsamic topping:
- 2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Slice vegetables into thin slices, roughly all the same size. Arrange in a separate bowl or dish for each vegetable, so that you can pick and choose each vegetable as you lay out the ratatouille. (Hint: After slicing the eggplant, mix in a teaspoon of salt. This will draw the liquid out of the eggplant and keep it firm when it cooks.)
Lay out the tortilla shell on the bottom of your cast iron pan.
Prepare the sauce by dicing up colored bell peppers and onion. Saute them in olive oil, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add crushed tomatoes to the pan. Add Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, and smoked paprika. Cook the sauce to reduce the liquid from the tomatoes, soften the vegetables, and thicken it.
Spread the sauce out over the bottom of the pan, on top of the tortilla bread.
On top of the the sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a fraction of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables.
Drizzle olive oil over the top of your sliced vegetables; this will help to cook and soften them. Sprinkle smoked paprika over the vegetables, then add spices (parsley, thyme, rosemary) to the top of your dish.
Cover your pan with a lid; if you don't have a lid, cover the top of the dish with metal foil. Place the pan in your oven, and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, uncover the pan and let the dish cook uncovered (still at 400 degrees) for 15 minutes.
(You may have a handful or more of leftover vegetable slices that do not fit; you can always cook these separately in another pan or dish. You can just throw them all together in the other dish and cook them – this will be your own treat, and you don't have to present this to the guests. Technically, this vegetable mishmash is closer to actual ratatouille than your prepared dish! )
The dish can be served immediately after being removed from the oven – but it will be piping hot! You'll probably want to wait a few minutes for it to cool. Now is the time to prepare the balsamic topping: in a dish or gravy boat, mix together 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Lightly drizzle the balsamic topping onto the vegetables after they have been served onto the guest's plate.
