Classic Ratatouille From Alice Waters

Author Notes

Ratatouille is a 2007 Pixar film about Remy, a culinarily talented rat, and Alfredo Linguini, an awkward garbage boy. The former’s dream is to cook in Paris’s most prominent restaurant (Gusteau’s) while the latter is rather, well, lost. When Linguini recognizes that Remy could be his ticket to a stable path and career, the two collaborate, make magic in the kitchen, and end up serving Paris’s most cold-hearted restaurant critic a dish so good he cries.

Kidding! Ratatouille is a southern French dish of stewed vegetables—commonly featuring eggplant, sweet peppers, summer squash, garlic, onion, and tender green herbs, in a tomato-based sauce. This version, as we know it, only came about around 200 years ago. Before that, “ratatouille” merely referred to a chunky vegetable stew.

This Genius ratatouille recipe from Alice Waters' 2007 cookbook The Art of Simple Food fusses only where it needs to fuss (over the eggplant), and adds a few smart, modern details—red chile flakes, a basil bouquet—that improve on a well-worn classic. Plus, it’s ratio is easy to remember: All vegetables conveniently work out to about a pound.

Salting, draining, and patting the eggplant cubes dry helps to remove excess water from the fruit (yes, it’s a fruit), which concentrates its flavor and makes for better browning later. Don’t be alarmed if your wrung-out eggplant is extra-thirsty for oil, and starts sticking to the pan—sticking is good for browning! Simply add another glug of oil, and stir frequently to keep the crisp faces from sticking too much and burning. From here, the eggplant gets folded into a saucy, flavorful base of peppers, squash, garlic, and tomatoes.

Now back to that basil bouquet (exactly as it sounds: a smaller bunch of basil tied into a bouquet with kitchen twine). Basil, as opposed to the woodier classics—thyme and rosemary—adds a liveliness to the vegetable party, pulling out the fruitiness of the tomatoes and bell peppers. This bouquet stays in only long enough to impart its aroma, replaced by a handful of its vegetal, freshly chopped leaves.

Helpful tools for this recipe:
- Five Two Essential Knives
- Le Creuset Dutch Oven
- Ekobo Bamboo Colander

—Genius Recipes