I was planning to make ratatouille for dinner one night and wanted to make it a bit more special. Not knowing on how to 1-up on ratatouille I searched the internet for some interesting ideas and stumbled upon a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Here is my attempt…
This version of ratatouille takes a little bit of effort and time to produce, but the results are beautiful as well as delicious. Similar to the dish prepared in the film Ratatouille.
This is a two-part recipe as one of the main ingredients for confit byaldi is piperade (a slightly spicy tomato, onion and pepper sauce).
Piperade
Piperade: You’ll need
- 1½ tablespoon of olive oil
- ½ large red pepper, seeds removed and chopped
- ½ large green pepper, seeds removed and chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
- 1 small chilli pepper, seeds removed and chopped
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
Heat up the oil in a large sauce pan to medium. Fry the onions, garlic, peppers, salt, pepper, sugar and paprika for approximately ten minutes, stirring regularly. Add the chopped tomatoes and let the mixture simmer for 15 minutes until it has become a thick sauce.
Baby marrow and pettypans
Confit Byaldi: You’ll need
- 1½ cup of the pipirade
- 4 baby marrows, thinly sliced
- 8 pattypans, thinly sliced
- 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon of thyme
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- Salt and pepper
Arranging the veg on the piperade
Confit byaldi ready to bake
Heat the oven to 150°C and grease a medium-sized round baking dish.
Line the base of the baking dish with the piperade and stack the vegetables on top of it, alternating between the ingredients; a row of baby marrow, row of pettypans, row of tomato etc.
Sprinkle the garlic and thyme over the dish.
Cover the dish with a layer of baking paper that is cut to fit inside the dish (mine was a bit fully stacked, so the baking paper just rested on top).
Bake the ratatouille for 1h45min.
Remove the baking paper and continue to bake the dish for an additional 25min.
Drizzle 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar over the dish and season with salt and pepper.
Serve on couscous, rice, as a side dish or on its own.
