Ratatouille

[Anne]

Now guys, something new : a receipe in French !

I can already see some of you wincing, but I must tell you that I am posting this by specific request of two members (whose identity I shall not disclose in order to protect them from your vengefulness ...)

Ratatouille is one of the basics of French family cooking, although you can also eat some in restaurants . Some chefs even serve it cold, with some basil and Italian vinegar .
This receipe meets both Becky's (tomatoes) and Andi's (veg) requirements .

Pour 6 personnes :
- 1 kg de tomates bien mûres
- 3 poivrons verts
- 6 courgettes
- 2 aubergines
- 3 oignons
- 3 gousses d'ail
- beaucoup d'huile d'olive
- 1 feuille de laurier
- thym
- un peu de sucre
- sel, poivre
Vous pouvez changer les quantités selon vos goûts : plus d'aubergines ou moins de poivrons, etc ...

Préparer les légumes : Couper les poivrons en lamelles . Eplucher (ou non) les aubergines et les courgettes, les couper en dés . Peler et émincer les oignons . Peler les tomates, en extraire le jus et les pépins et les couper en petits morceaux .

Dans une grande casserole à fond épais, faire chauffer l'huile d'olive . Faire revenir (feu doux) les courgettes et les aubergines en remuant régulièrement . Quand les courgettes ne perdent plus d'eau et que tout est un peu doré, retirer les légumes et les mettre de côté . Jeter le jus des courgettes, remettre de l'huile et cuire maintenant les oignons, les gousses d'ail épluchées et les poivrons et cuire au moins 5 mn en mélangeant . Puis les mettre de côté avec les courgettes et les aubergines et cuire maintenant les tomates au moins 10 mn, jusqu'à ce qu'elles ne perdent plus d'eau . Puis égoutter les tomates et jeter le jus .

Remettre tous les légumes dans la casserole avec un peu de sucre, le sel, le poivre, le laurier et le thym . Cuire à feu doux sans couvercle pendant 1 heure en remuant régulièrement . Il ne doit presque plus y avoir de jus à la fin .

VERY IMPORTANT : you must really cook the vegetables separately at first, otherwise you will get a watery stew .

Don't hesitate to ask me about what you cannot understand (and please, don't say : everything) . And give me your feedback about this idea of receipes in French ...

[sistereurope]

merci anne!!! I exalt you!

[Happygoin]

I can manage all but the feuille de laurier (I'm guessing a bay leaf?) and the gousses d'ail. Not a clue on that. Help? Otherwise, its a winner. I especially love ratatouille at room temperature. It also makes a great lunch the next day as an open-face sandwich with a little cheese melted on top.

[iank9]

Happygoin,

gousses d'ail = clove of garlic

Best wishes

[Happygoin]

Of course. Thanks Ian. What would ratatouille be without garlic?

[iank9]

Hi Anne,

This looks great!

I know we should all take the time to learn a little (a lot) of French, and my conversational French does get us by, but (!) a little cheat can be found at:

babelfish.altavista.com/tr

Hope this is of assistance, but remember, not a substitute for knowing the real thing!!!

Best wishes

[kasthor]

J'ai Faim!

Thanks for that receipe!!

I love ratatouille and yours sounds perfect, it's a little bit like real bolognaise though, it takes forever... So I constantly have to cheat with ratatouille (so I do with bolognaise...) I buy the canned one from "cassegrain" which is "eatable" and I add tomato, garlic (a lot), onion and tha 'erbs...

I have a special way to cook my 'aubergines' (eggplant), it takes forever too, I heat up some olive oil, I add a whole (or two) clove of garlic which I fry alone in the oil, take them out before they burn. This makes a garlic oil in which I then fry the eggplant, the eggplant will soak up all the oil at first to release it little by little and at the end of the cooking I add a little sugar to carmelize the whole thing!

[annettecinca]

Wow! As poor as my French skills are, I was surprisingly able to follow most of the recipe without "cheating"! Maybe investing in some French cookbooks would be more profitable for me than language tapes At any rate, I will definitely try this recipe. Thanks Anne!

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Thanks, indeed! As Anne comments, most of the times ratatouille is watery and not very interesting -- I've never even tried to make it, because why would I want to make something so boring? But this inspires me, and I will give it a try once I have a steady supply of tomatoes! (And Kasthor's comments about eggplant, which I also never try to cook for much the same reason, are intriguing - I shall have to give that a try as well!)

[Anne]

Happygoin - Yes, laurier is bay leaf . But it is not that essential to the receipe, you can do without it .

Iank - what you did is just plain cheating I am sure that you didn't translate only what you couldn't understand but that you made an plain copy/paste of the whole receipe !

Kasthor - I do also love eggplants being fried in olive oil only, but to cook them at the same time than the courgettes which release much juice actually helps reducing the quantity of oil that the eggplants will absorb : I sometimes feel compelled to think about dietetics too

[kasthor]

No you're right, the word dietetic doesn't (yet) fit into my vocabulary

[Anne]

Actually Iank, I've just had the whole receipe translated on your website, and I must admit that the output is quite funny ! OK; I forgive you then

[Truffaut]

kasthor said:

No you're right, the word dietetic doesn't (yet) fit into my vocabulary

Well, at 6'4" and not a spare ounce of flesh, you hardly have to worry about dietetic recipes like the rest of us!

[Truffaut]

Annette,
You're obviously an accomplished cook and basically know how most things are generally made, so I think you'd find French recipes easy to follow. The ocassional ingredient may be difficult to identify, but the same vocabulary comes up again and again (stir, sift, saute, boil, etc.)

You might enjoy poking around some of the magazine sites that have a lot of recipes. Generally, they're fairly easy "modern" recipes:

cuisine.elle.fr/elle/elle-a-table
madame.lefigaro.fr/cuisine/recettes

[annettecinca]

Truffaut--I don't know how "accomplished" a cook I am, but it is one of my favorite passtimes and I very much enjoy it (especially on a quiet rainy day with some French music playing!). Thanks for the websites--they look very promising It will be fun putting them to use!

[iank9]

Anne,

Mais non!

Je n'ai pas triché!!! ;D Mon Français est bien concernant des mots et des expressions de culinery!!!!

I think I got that right!!

I will make an attempt at your recipe at the weekend and report back.

Merci beaucoup!

[annettecinca]

Anne, I won't attempt to report back to you in French but I did want to tell you that I made this recipe over the weekend, and it was yummy. It was fun to translate. Thanks for sharing!