Ratatouille Niçoise

A classic dish of the south of France is ratatouille niçoise. It’s summer on a plate. It’s also a great dish for entertaining because it’s even better the second day, so it’s ideal to make ahead. Nice gets credit for its creation but it’s a dish common to all of Occitanie, the broad swath of southern France.

My friend Christine put it on the menu for our cooking class, along with grilled thyme lamb chops, which I’ll also include here.Remember, for a same-day dinner, we made the desserts first, starting with the crème catalan, then the baba au rhum. Once the baba was cooling, we tackled the ratatouille, or rata, as the French like to say. It’s very French to cut off words to two syllables: Coca-Cola becomes Coca (not Coke); McDonald’s is known as “MacDo”; spaghetti bolognaise is called “bolo”; Carcassonne is called “Carca”….

Even first names get shortened to two syllables (often one syllable repeated twice) to form a nickname: Laurence is Lolo; Louis is Loulou; Alphonse is Fonfon; Georges or Joseph becomes Jojo; Julien is Juju. Now that I think about it, all those are male names. Though I know a Brigitte who goes by Bibi. Female names often get -ou at the end: Michelle becomes Michou (sounds like mishoo); Giselle is Gisou. And there are another range of nicknames that also use the repeated two-syllable style: uncle (officially it’s oncle, but familiarly it’s tonton); I know a Tintin… But there are exceptions: a son (fils) may be affectionally referred to as fiston. Aunt (tante) becomes tatie. Grandmother (grand-mère) is more likely called mamie.Back to the rata.

Here’s what you need (easy to remember, it’s 3 of everything):

olive oil

3 onions, minced

3 small eggplants, (large) dice. Purple ones should be peeled; white ones have a thinner, milder skin that can be left on.

3 zucchini, peeled and diced

3 tomatoes, peeled (blanche first) and cut into large chunks

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

salt, pepper, thyme, and a bay leaf or two

Cover the bottom of a large, heavy pan with a coat of olive oil. Cook the onions over medium heat, stirring often, until they soften.

Add the eggplant, and continue to stir until it softens.Add the zucchini. Then the peppers. Then the tomato and spices.

Let it cook until everything has softened up. Don’t put on the lid or you will end up with a lot of juice.

Serve hot, cold or lukewarm.What I like about rata is that there are no mistakes (unless you really burn it or you overcook the vegetables into mush–one of the Carnivore’s sharpest insults for a mix of overcooked food is “ratatouille”) and lots of room for variation.

To reduce the juice, I like to cook everything quickly and separately over high heat, so the outsides of the zucchini and eggplants, especially, brown, but the vegetables aren’t too cooked. They get added in turn to a mixing bowl and then heated together before serving. Or not heated. I learned, while writing this, that cooking the vegetables separately is the method that the French bible of cuisine, Larousse Gastronomique, suggests, though it says to cook the mix about 20 minutes in the oven. Putting the dish in the oven is a good way to avoid scorching the bottom, but I’d rather just keep it stovetop and not heat up the kitchen.I rarely peel vegetables–out of laziness and also for the added nutrition. I also add plenty of garlic–three or four cloves. Sometimes I use herbes de provence, a mix of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, basil and savory, which we tend to put into almost everything. Other times, I use fresh herbs from the garden–thyme, rosemary, basil.  Rata is a good way to eat the rainbow. Consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables gives you different nutrients, since the colors are linked to different disease-fighting chemicals, called phytochemicals.

Another plus for ratatouille: leftovers are great, and you can even put it on pasta or rice for a vegetarian meal.

We served it with provençale tomatoes (recipe coming soon) and thyme lamb chops.For the lamb chops:

Cut off the egregious hunks of fat. They will just cause your grill to flame up.

Brush both sides with a little olive oil so the thyme sticks to the chops and so the chops don’t stick to the grill. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper on both sides.

Cook to taste on your grill. The Carnivore swears by wood charcoal, but we won’t get judgy if you use gas.

Bon appétit!

 

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