Ratatouille (Confit Byaldi)

(as in the film Ratatouille, the recipe is also called Confit Byaldi)

Important! This takes three to four hours to prepare!

Goes well with a chilled Rosé and some white bread or better Baguette, or certainly: Fougasse.

Preparation You'll need: A casserole dish A pan
Ingredients (for 2 to 3 persons) for the Piperade 1 red bell pepper and half a bell pepper each, in orange and yellow. All as large as possible, with thick walls (check weight!) 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 2 cloves of garlic ½ onion 350 g tomatoes (around 4 pieces) 1 sprig of thyme (or rosemary if you want) Some flat-leaf parsley 1 small bay leaf Coarse salt for the veggies 1 green courgette 1 aubergine (rather long than thick ) 1 yellow squash (or yellow courgette) 7 large tomatoes Make sure to buy them all with around the same diameter. Especially the aubergine is often rather thick. 2 cloves of garlic 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil A sprig of thyme (or rosemary, if you like) Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper for the Vinaigrette 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 6 Tbsp. balsamico Assorted fresh herbs (thyme, chervil, parsley, ...) Coarse salt and fresh groud pepper
Preparation of the Piperade Clean the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Place them in the oven (cut surface downwards, do not use baking paper, baking tray, middle shelf, ca. 270℃) and switch to grill. Grill the peppers until the skin turns black. Then take them out and put them on the side, so they can cool off. In the meantime press the garlic and dice the onion. Then saute both on low to medium heat in extra-virgin olive oil until they get soft, but not brown. Takes around 5 minutes. In the meantime peel the tomatoes - we only need the flesh and the juice, remove the seeds. Dice and add together with the juice to the onion as soon as the onion's done. Add the thyme or rosemary, the bay leaf and the parsley and let it simmer for around 5 to 10 minutes. By now the bell peppers should have cooled off - remove the skin and dice them. As soon as the tomato-onion mix is done add the peppers and let it simmer for a few minutes until the peppers get soft. Remove the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reserve 2 Tbsp. of mixture and spread the rest in the bottom of the casserole dish.
Preparation of the vegetables Preheat oven (130℃). Don't peel the tomatoes. Slice the veggies in thin slices (around 2 millimetres), and keep them in separate dishes. Now place the slices alternating in a spiral (or in rings), so that the slices overlap almost completely (see picture). Press the garlic and mix with thyme and olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the veggie slices. Now place the oven dish (if necessary seal it tightly with aluminium foil) in the oven for two hours.
Preparation of the Vinaigrette Mix the herbs (e. g. thyme and parsley) with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamico (6 EL ea.) and the reserved piperade Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Final steps Check on the veggies after almost two hours and see if they are soft. When everything is done. Switch the oven to grill and place the Ratatouille back uncovered, until the slices start to get slightly brown. To serve take a strip of slices with a spatula and pile them into a little tower (see photo). Then add the vinaigrette and serve hot.