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Recipe!
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myrialux and I dislike zucchini and eggplant (among other things, thanks supertasting), but have found that if offending ingredients are cooked long enough with other ingredients so that they all meld together, often the results are perfectly acceptable. And we both want to expand our culinary horizons.
I bought the cookbook Bohème Cooking: French Vegetarian Recipes by Carrie Solomon, and found this rustic ratatouille recipe, which we tried tonight. It was good! It all blended together so we couldn’t taste the individual offensive vegetables, becoming more than the sum of its parts.
Recipe under the cut.
Ratatouille with Rustic Croutons and Poached Eggs
★★★★
30 min-2 hours, Casseroles, Entrees, French, Soups and Stews, Vegetables
Total Time: 2 hours | Servings: 4 (see note: 2 entrees or 4 sides)
Ingredients:
FOR THE RATATOUILLE
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion (white or yellow), thinly sliced
½ teaspoon minced garlic
½ pound (227 g) eggplant
½ pound (227 g) tomatoes
½ pound (227 g) zucchini
⅓ pound (150 g) bell pepper (red, green, or other color)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
½ teaspoon Espelette pepper or other light chili powder, plus more for serving
1 teaspoon salt
Croutons for serving
FOR THE POACHED EGGS
½ cup (114 ml) white vinegar
2½ cups (568 ml) water
4 eggs
4 thyme sprigs for serving
Directions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot (preferably cast iron) over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring frequently until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. If the edges of the onions start to brown, turn down the heat. Wash and chop the rest of the vegetables into 1½- to 2-inch (4 to 5 cm) pieces. They should be rather large as they will cook down to half their size. Add them to the pot along with the thyme, Espelette pepper, and salt. Lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes. The vegetables might look a little dry, but don’t be tempted to add more water or oil, they will loosen up as they continue to cook. Place a lid on the pot and cook for at least another hour, stirring every 10 minutes. The vegetables will melt together, more or less, but stir carefully so as not to completely smash them.
2. To make the poached eggs, heat the vinegar and water in a small-medium saucepan. Once the water is boiling, crack in the eggs quickly, one after the next. Cook the eggs for 3 minutes without disturbing them. Prepare a medium salad bowl filled with cold water. Remove the eggs from the water carefully with a skimmer and place them in the cold water bath. Drain once and fill again with cold water. The cold water will keep them from overcooking, but as the water turns warm from the eggs’ heat, it will keep the eggs just the right temperature for serving.
3. To serve, divide the ratatouille between four shallow bowls. Place a poached egg on top and sprinkle with croutons, more Espelette pepper if you like, and a sprig of fresh thyme.
Notes from the source:
Some people prepare their ratatouille vegetables in small diced cubes, or in slices laid out in a pan. But those methods were always a little too fussy for me. I learned the secrets to making a rustic ratatouille just after I moved to France. I was often cooking ratatouille for the family for whom I was working as an au pair, and they didn’t hold back on giving me pointers. These are the two lessons I learned: First, don’t overdo it on the garlic (as a young American who had just arrived in Paris, I had the tendency to do this . . .) because you don’t mask the flavor of the vegetables and herbs. And second, cook the vegetables until they melt together and have a jammy texture, meaning that even if you think it’s done cooking, it probably isn’t. Taste it, and if there is any resistance, then put it back on the stove. A few years after leaving my au pair job, my ex-husband showed me how to serve this as a meal in itself with poached eggs and croutons, and I’ve never looked back!
Notes from us:
Good! Flavors blended together well. Made 2 large servings or 4 small side dish servings. Used Sourdough Anchovy Croutons for the croutons. MADE THE DISH. Requires meat—the egg is squishy and good but not satisfying. We had leftover sausage, which was good. Used Bull Canyon chile powder, a mild flavorful (3/10 heat) chili powder.
Source: Solomon, Carrie. Bohème Cooking: French Vegetarian Recipes (p. 212).
myrialux and I dislike zucchini and eggplant (among other things, thanks supertasting), but have found that if offending ingredients are cooked long enough with other ingredients so that they all meld together, often the results are perfectly acceptable. And we both want to expand our culinary horizons.I bought the cookbook Bohème Cooking: French Vegetarian Recipes by Carrie Solomon, and found this rustic ratatouille recipe, which we tried tonight. It was good! It all blended together so we couldn’t taste the individual offensive vegetables, becoming more than the sum of its parts.
Recipe under the cut.
Ratatouille with Rustic Croutons and Poached Eggs
★★★★
30 min-2 hours, Casseroles, Entrees, French, Soups and Stews, Vegetables
Total Time: 2 hours | Servings: 4 (see note: 2 entrees or 4 sides)
Ingredients:
FOR THE RATATOUILLE
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion (white or yellow), thinly sliced
½ teaspoon minced garlic
½ pound (227 g) eggplant
½ pound (227 g) tomatoes
½ pound (227 g) zucchini
⅓ pound (150 g) bell pepper (red, green, or other color)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
½ teaspoon Espelette pepper or other light chili powder, plus more for serving
1 teaspoon salt
Croutons for serving
FOR THE POACHED EGGS
½ cup (114 ml) white vinegar
2½ cups (568 ml) water
4 eggs
4 thyme sprigs for serving
Directions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot (preferably cast iron) over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring frequently until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. If the edges of the onions start to brown, turn down the heat. Wash and chop the rest of the vegetables into 1½- to 2-inch (4 to 5 cm) pieces. They should be rather large as they will cook down to half their size. Add them to the pot along with the thyme, Espelette pepper, and salt. Lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes. The vegetables might look a little dry, but don’t be tempted to add more water or oil, they will loosen up as they continue to cook. Place a lid on the pot and cook for at least another hour, stirring every 10 minutes. The vegetables will melt together, more or less, but stir carefully so as not to completely smash them.
2. To make the poached eggs, heat the vinegar and water in a small-medium saucepan. Once the water is boiling, crack in the eggs quickly, one after the next. Cook the eggs for 3 minutes without disturbing them. Prepare a medium salad bowl filled with cold water. Remove the eggs from the water carefully with a skimmer and place them in the cold water bath. Drain once and fill again with cold water. The cold water will keep them from overcooking, but as the water turns warm from the eggs’ heat, it will keep the eggs just the right temperature for serving.
3. To serve, divide the ratatouille between four shallow bowls. Place a poached egg on top and sprinkle with croutons, more Espelette pepper if you like, and a sprig of fresh thyme.
Notes from the source:
Some people prepare their ratatouille vegetables in small diced cubes, or in slices laid out in a pan. But those methods were always a little too fussy for me. I learned the secrets to making a rustic ratatouille just after I moved to France. I was often cooking ratatouille for the family for whom I was working as an au pair, and they didn’t hold back on giving me pointers. These are the two lessons I learned: First, don’t overdo it on the garlic (as a young American who had just arrived in Paris, I had the tendency to do this . . .) because you don’t mask the flavor of the vegetables and herbs. And second, cook the vegetables until they melt together and have a jammy texture, meaning that even if you think it’s done cooking, it probably isn’t. Taste it, and if there is any resistance, then put it back on the stove. A few years after leaving my au pair job, my ex-husband showed me how to serve this as a meal in itself with poached eggs and croutons, and I’ve never looked back!
Notes from us:
Good! Flavors blended together well. Made 2 large servings or 4 small side dish servings. Used Sourdough Anchovy Croutons for the croutons. MADE THE DISH. Requires meat—the egg is squishy and good but not satisfying. We had leftover sausage, which was good. Used Bull Canyon chile powder, a mild flavorful (3/10 heat) chili powder.
Source: Solomon, Carrie. Bohème Cooking: French Vegetarian Recipes (p. 212).