Page 383 - YC Cooking School

equipment you have available – including your oven and frying pans – to cook the
ingredients individually. Once you add all the cooked ingredients to the pot, it will only take

about 30–40 minutes.

Cut your vegetables into a uniform size
Choose the size you’d like your vegetable chunks to be and then keep this consistent across
all the ingredients. You’ll end up with a beautifully uniform dish. Remember that some

ingredients (like eggplant and peppers) shrink more than others when cooked, so take this
into account when slicing and dicing.

Cook eggplant in the oven
Reduce the amount of oil in the overall dish by cooking the eggplant in the oven, rather

than in a frying pan. Eggplant absorbs oil like a sponge.

Slice the peppers from the inside out
Much like a tomato, the outside skin of a pepper is quite tough. Make short work of slicing
peppers by cutting them in half first and then slicing them from the inside out.

Fry the peppers over a medium to low heat
Take care not to overcook the peppers to the point that they lose their beautiful, vibrant
colours. A medium heat is what you’re after.

Fit a lid on your pan to reduce the cooking time of the onions
By trapping the steam inside the pan, the onions will cook quicker, and you’ll save your eyes
from a tear or two. If you don’t have a fitted lid, just pop a large plate over the pan.

Don’t discard the juice from the tomato
As Franck says, the tomato juice that oozes from the tomatoes during roasting is ‘like
heaven’ and will add beautiful flavour to your ratatouille.

Practise flipping your vegetables
Use a back-and-forth motion with your wrist to flip the vegetables into the air and catch
them again as they fall. It takes a bit of practice to get right but you’ll feel like a real chef
once you’ve mastered it.

Keep your eye on the garlic
Garlic gets a horribly bitter flavour if it becomes too brown. Simmer it over a gentle heat and
keep an eye on it.

Give the ratatouille a stir every so often

While the ratatouille cooks for 30–40 minutes, be sure to give it a stir every so often. This will
stop the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.

More time means more flavour

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