Julia Child’s Ratatouille

Maybe you will recall the effect the movie Julie & Julia left on my life. It was my inspiration to initiate this blog nearly two years ago. Recently I bought the 2 volumes of Julia Child’s book Mastering the art of French cooking and this morning on seeing I have all the ingredients I decided to try her recipe for ratatouille. I would like to share this recipe with you and although it is rather a lengthy process, since you need to cook the vegetables separately, the result is an excellent, colorful and summer scented dish.

Julia Child suggests that the aubergines are left to stand in salt for half an hour to remove their considerable amount of moisture and their bitterness. She also peels the aubergines. I do not usually treat aubergines to these 2 processes so I was eager to assess the result.

Ratatouille

Ingredients for 6 to 8 persons:

• 250g aubergines
• 250g courgettes
• 1 tsp salt
• 250g onions
• 2 green peppers
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and juiced
• parsley
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Peel the aubergines and cut lengthwise into thick fingers 2cm wide and 6cm long. Scrub the courgettes and cut the same size as the aubergines. Place these vegetables in a bowl and toss with the salt. Leave to stand for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the remaining ingredients. Finely slice the onions and the green peppers. Peel the tomatoes after blanching them in boiling water, remove the seeds and juices and leave them to drain in a colander. Finely chop the parsley and set aside.

Rinse the aubergine and courgette slices under running water, drain and dry each slice with a clean cloth. Sauté the aubergines and the courgettes in hot olive oil, one layer at a time, until they are lightly browned. Remove in a side dish.

In the same frying pan, cook the onions and peppers on low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir in crushed garlic and season with salt & pepper.

Cut the drained tomatoes into strips and add over the onion mixture, season and cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes emanate their juice. Raise heat and allow juices to evaporate.

In a fireproof casserole, (you can use a wide saucepan instead) layer a third of the tomato mixture in the bottom and sprinkle with parsley. Arrange half of the aubergines and courgettes on top, then the tomatoes and parsley. Put in the rest of the aubergines and courgettes and top with the remaining tomatoes and parsley.

Cover casserole and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. Make sure you do not let vegetables to scorch. Serve hot or cold or the next day, it will be more flavoured.