Local products26 March 2017

Recipe of the Week: Ratatouille or Ratatuia

Ratatouille - or Ratatuia in Italian – is originally a traditional Provence recipe which spread in the Alps of the Sea.

Credits: recipeler.com

Credits: recipeler.com

Ratatouille - or Ratatuia in italian – is originally a traditional Provence recipe and from the Nice area which spread in the bordering areas, specifically in all the Alps of the Sea.

There are many variations of this recipe, as it changed according to the products the different areas had to offer. Here below is the original recipe from Nice.

Ingredients for 8 people

  • red & yellow peppers,
  • 1.2 kg long zucchini,
  • 1.2 kg eggplants,
  • 400 g white or brown onions,
  • 1.2 kg ripe tomatoes,
  • 2 garlic cloves,
  • 10 basil leaves,
  • extra-virgin olive oil,
  • thyme, bay leaf, parsley, celery leaves,
  • Fine salt & ground pepper

Directions:

Peel the cloves of garlic, and onions. Prepare the vegetables: clean and cut zucchini, eggplants, remove the seeds from the peppers, wash, cut them into cubes.

Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a frying pan and brown the vegetables successively and separately.

Drain them in a strainer and pour them into a casserole dish. Blanche, skin and deseed the tomatoes, crush them and add them to the vegetables.

Add the seasoning: salt, ground pepper,  thyme, bay leaf, parsley, celery leaves, crushed garlic cloves. Cover with a lid. Allow to cook for 40 to 45 minutes.

Add the fresh chopped basil just before serving.

Deborah Bellotti

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