I saw recipes for ratatouille for years and always flipped right by them in my cookbooks. A stew of nothing but vegetables sounded bland and boring to me — and this from someone who was a vegetarian for a time. It was only when I came across this recipe for Italian sausages and ratatouille that I was tempted to finally give it a try. I couldn’t believe how good it was, and kicked myself for not making it sooner. It’s the kind of dish that’s definitely more than the sum of its parts. While the sausages do impart an extra depth of flavor to it — especially if you get high-quality butcher sausages like pepper and herb, or my favorite, the Guinness sausages my local butcher makes — I’ve since made this just as often without them, and it’s equally as good. It’s the perfect dinner for late summer, when all these vegetables are readily available. I always make this on the day I get my delivery of organic fruit and veg, when everything is fresh and perfect.
There are so many versions of this classic dish out there. Most call for fresh tomatoes, as does this one, but to be honest, I just use canned tomatoes 99% of the time. Some use fennel, green peppers, wine or balsamic vinegar. Some use basil, marjoram, parsley or herbes de Provence. Almost all of them sauté the vegetables in batches in separate pans (I roast them because it’s easier). In other words, pretty much anything goes — use what you have or what you like and you can’t go too far wrong.
Still looking for more ways to use up tomatoes? Try Chicken Cacciatore, Tomato and Goat’s Cheese Tart, Ravioli and Tomato Salad, Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce or Spaghetti with Roast Cherry Tomatoes, Chili and Basil.
Oven-roasted Ratatouille with (or without) Sausages
Serves 6
I’m not fussy about how I chop the vegetables. Just aim to get them all about the same size so that everything cooks evenly, and don’t chop them too small, or they’ll burn while roasting. The amount of vegetables to use is only a rough guide here — this is simply what I had on the day I made this.
When serving this to my kids, I puree a portion of the ratatouille and serve it to them as a sauce with pasta. It’s an easy (and invisible) way for me to make sure they get a good dose of vegetables.
2 lb (900 g) ripe tomatoes (or 2 to 3 x 14-oz (400-g) cans of chopped tomatoes, depending on how saucy you want the dish to be)
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped or cut into slivers
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (if you have it), chopped
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 red onions, roughly chopped (or substitute white onions if you prefer; I like red)
4 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
3 small eggplants, roughly chopped
2 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 yellow peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 1/2 lb (680 g) good-quality butcher sausages or Italian sausages (or aim for 1 to 2 sausages per person, depending on how big the sausages are)
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
First, skin the tomatoes. To do this, cut a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato with a sharp knife, then pour boiling water over them and leave until the skin around the X starts to curl away, about 1 to 2 minutes. Drain and allow to cool, then slip off their skins. Cut into quarters or roughly chop them — it doesn’t matter too much since they’ll break up during the cooking anyway.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot (big enough to hold all the vegetables, tomatoes and sausages, if you’re using them) over a medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, chopped herbs and salt and freshly ground pepper and ring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce has reduced to about half its original volume (if using fresh tomatoes), about 30 minutes (the time it takes to roast the vegetables should be enough).
Meanwhile, place the chopped onions, zucchini, eggplants, and peppers on 2 baking sheets. Drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss the vegetables with your hands to ensure they are all coated with the oil. Roast the vegetables in the oven for about 30 minutes, until they have blackened slightly, taking care not to let anything burn.
Once the vegetables are done and the tomato sauce has reduced nicely, add the vegetables to the pot with the sauce. Stir to combine. Nestle the sausages into the vegetables and sauce, making sure they are immersed in the sauce as much as possible. Cover the pot halfway and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the sausages are cooked through and the flavors have blended together. Season to taste. Serve with crusty bread, or spooned on top of penne as a sauce.
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