Ratatouille Tian
Beautiful and versatile vegetable side. We slice and layer colourful Mediterranean vegetables. We arrange them in a rich tomato sauce and bake until meltingly soft. Ratatouille Tian looks and tastes like summer!Before you startIf you are making your own tomato sauce, you’ll need to allow up to an hour to cook this first. You can prep the veg while this is simmering.
Servings: 6 (if served as a side dish)
Equipment
- A mandoline is handy, though not essential
- Baking dish. Any shape will do. A 30cm/9in round pan (if you want to arrange in a spiral) is equal to about 28cm/11in square (for rows)
Ingredients
- 400 ml Tomato & Basil Sauce (or any other good quality pizza/pasta sauce)
Veg – these amounts are very flexible
- 200 g eggplant/aubergine one large one
- 450 g fresh tomato approx. 2-3 large
- 250 g pumpkin butternut (note 1)
- 250 g zucchini/courgette
Herb Seasoning
- small handful basil leaves
- small handful fresh parsley leaves
- Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 60ml olive oil (4 tablespoons)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven - to 170°C.
- Baking Paper – turn the empty baking dish upside down and use the outline to cut out sheet of baking paper. Set aside the paper. This will cover the veg for the first part of cooking later.
- Tomato Base - pour the tomato sauce into the dish.400 ml Tomato & Basil Sauce
- Slice Veg – peel the pumpkin (no need to peel the other veg). Thinly slice them, about 2mm thick.200 g eggplant/aubergine450 g fresh tomato250 g pumpkin250 g zucchini/courgette
- Arrange Veg – create batches of sliced veg on a chopping board. Transfer these to stand upright in the tomato sauce, starting along the edge of the dish. Trim the slices if needed so that the veg are roughly the same dimensions. Don't overthink it; It will end up looking good whatever. If using a circular dish, continue the spiral to the centre, or fill in the centre with some columns. Squeeze in extra slices wherever they’ll fit (note 2).
- Herb Seasoning – finely chop up the basil, parsley and thyme. Stir the herbs into the olive oil. Season the top of the veg well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Brush the herby olive oil over the exposed parts of the vegetables.small handful basil leavessmall handful fresh parsley leavesTablespoon fresh thyme leavesSalt and pepper to taste60ml olive oil
- Cover & Bake – cover the veg with the baking paper, then foil. Cook for 40 minutes.
- Uncover & Bake – take off the layers of baking paper and foil and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes.
- Rest – remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes or so before serving. Good at room temperature too. Allow to cool completely with the covers off until room temperature if transferring to the fridge or freezer (see notes below).
Notes
1 For most other recipes I buy Kent/Jap pumpkin because it’s lower FODMAP. I suggest butternut here. It’s more uniform in shape and easier to slice consistently
2 You’re never going to have the perfect amount of all your veg. Don’t throw extras away!! Keep tomatoes for sandwiches. The rest – toss in a little olive oil and seasoning and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake with the tian for around 20 minutes until a bit crispy and caramelised. Chef’s treat!!