Ratatouille (ratatuj) without tomatoes – why not?

This dish took me a bit by surprise. I had guests coming over and a serious craving for vegetables. Somehow I’d got it into my head that there had to be kohlrabi and beetroot in there. And this is what happened. An oddity I called ratatouille (ratatuj in Polish) without tomatoes.

Because this classic French dish, Provençal even, is normally always made with tomatoes or tomato sauce. And it usually comes out of a frying pan rather than an oven. But give my version a go and, even without the tomatoes, it’ll remind you of classic ratatouille when you taste it.

Magic, that.

I don’t know why, but in the space of two weeks before making this dish I’d had a good ratatouille at one of Warsaw’s better restaurants, and mine really does hold its own.

Of course, it probably pains you even to look at the photo I took. It just came out that way. I know, I know, the photos on this blog are always dreadful. But this one’s exceptionally so. It’s not even the dish’s fault. You know what it’s like with guests: you have to get the food on the table quickly, and you want it hot. I snapped three quick pictures straight out of the oven and didn’t even manage to catch it served up in a bowl. Sorry.

It does take time, unfortunately, but it’s worth the wait. Especially since it’s a real pleasure to prepare, apart from peeling the beetroot. Give it a go.

You can of course make it completely vegetarian by leaving out the wild boar sausage. It happened to catch my eye, but it turned out to be exceptionally dry and good for nothing else.

At a glance: 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Oven temperature: 170 degrees Celsius

Baking time: about two hours

Serves: four

Calories: it’s all vegetables really, well, almost all 😉

Ingredients for a good oven-baked dish:

• 4 medium potatoes
• half a large courgette
• half an aubergine
• one large kohlrabi
• two medium carrots
• 4 small beetroots
• three shallots
• one portion of processed cheese (a triangle)
• a glass of dry white wine (preferably Chardonnay)
• about 100 grams of wild boar sausage (omit this ingredient for the vegan or vegetarian version)
• olive oil
• ground black pepper
• salt
• dried herbes de Provence
• dried rosemary

Method (this’ll take a while):

The most important thing in this recipe is how you cut the vegetables. Some, like potatoes, beetroot and carrots, are hard and need longer to soften. Others, like courgette, aubergine and kohlrabi, don’t need nearly as long. So cut the hard ones small and leave the others a little chunkier. Otherwise you’ll end up with mush instead of a lovely ratatouille.

That’s why I peeled the potatoes and beetroots and cut them into fine strips. I diced the carrots quite finely and cut the rest (courgette, aubergine, shallots and kohlrabi) into larger dice.

I lined a roasting tin with foil and laid the vegetables in it in layers, the “soft” ones underneath and the “harder” ones on top. I seasoned them with salt, pepper (quite generously), herbes de Provence and rosemary, drizzled over olive oil and gave them a gentle stir.

I put the tin into the oven preheated to 170 degrees Celsius. After about 50 minutes I stirred the vegetables for the first time. I baked them for another 10–15 minutes, added the very finely chopped wild boar sausage and stirred again.

After 10 minutes I added the finely chopped processed cheese and stirred again.

After 10 minutes I poured in a glass of dry white wine and stirred. I baked it for about another 20 minutes. The vegetables should be tender but still hold their shape. All done. Serve on its own or alongside roasted or pan-fried meat (red meat, mind you). Enjoy!