What is the best movie Pixar has ever made?
If you answered with anything other than Ratatouille, you are wrong. Sorry, but it’s not my fault you have lived a life built on errors and lies all these years.
Busted.
I love movies about food, like Big Night, Romantics Anonymous, Chef, Haute Cuisine, and on and on. That said, there are also bad movies about food where it seems like everyone involved in the production of the film wouldn’t even be able to undertake the production of a ham sandwich. I’m looking at you, No Reservations. Shame on everyone involved in that sad-sack romcom.
But Ratatouille! This is an excellent food movie, and I love it more every time I watch it. It is far more charming than any story about an animated rat cooking in a professional kitchen has any right to be. It captures the joy of creating something, whether new or from someone else’s instructions, and sharing that creation with the people you love.
Plus, all of the food looks delicious. That bread scene with Collette? Come on, now. And then of course, you have the title dish: ratatouille. I had never eaten ratatouille (or the fancy pants version in the movie, which is technically a confit byaldi) until the New York Times released Thomas Keller’s recipe for it. I’ve since made this several times, and that is what I’ve got for you all here today, albeit with some slight adjustments for pragmatism. For example, Keller’s recipe calls for three differently colored bell peppers, but you only use half of each. That’s absurd. Just get two bell peppers and have a single half left over. I’ve done it both ways and I can assure you that you won’t know the difference.
This dish does take a while to prep and to cook, but if you know how to stir some things and slice some other things, you can make this. The end result is definitely worth the hassle. This is savory and meaty despite having approximately zero meat in it. So bust out the mandolin (or just a very sharp knife) and get to work. Impress your family! Impress your friends! Take it down the street and up three flights of stairs to impress the cute boy you’ve made idle small talk with a few times!
And bon appetit.
Remy’s Ratatouille (aka Confit Byaldi)
Barely adapted from Thomas Keller’s recipe in the New York Times
Yield: about 4 servings
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 4 hours
For the piperade (the base):
1 1/2 red and/or orange bell peppers, halved and with seeds removed
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced (about 1 large clove)
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced finely (about half an onion)
3 tomatoes (12 oz), skinned and seeded, diced finely
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig parsley
1 bay leaf
kosher salt and pepper to taste
For the vegetables:
1 green zucchini (4 oz)
1 Chinese or Japanese eggplant (4 oz)
1 yellow squash (4 oz)
4 tomatoes
For the pre-cook vegetable topping:
1/2 tsp garlic, minced (about half a clove)
2 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and stem discarded
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
For the vinaigrette:
1 tbs of the piperade
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
assorted herbs (I used thyme and oregano)
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Prepare the piperade:
Preheat the oven to 450* F. Place the bell pepper halves cut side down on a baking sheet lined with foil. Roast until the skin blisters, about 15 minutes. Set aside and let cool, then peel off the skin and dice finely.
While the bell peppers are underway, heat the 2 tbs of olive oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add the onion and garlic, and stir. Cook on low for 8 minutes, until the onions and garlic are very soft but not browned.
Add the tomatoes, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. Stir to incorporate and continue cooking on low for 10 minutes until most of the mixture has broken down and very little liquid remains.
Add the diced bell peppers and stir to incorporate. Cook on low for another 10 minutes, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Set 1 tbs of the piperade aside for the vinaigrette and spread the rest onto the bottom of a medium pan or other medium-sized roasting vessel.
Prepare the vegetables:
Preheat the oven to 275* F.
Slice all of the vegetables thinly, about 1/4 inch thick. Use either a knife or a mandolin — I used a knife for the tomatoes and a mandolin for the rest.
Layer the slices of vegetables over the piperade, overlapping each slice so that only about 1/4 inch of each one is showing. As you go along, coil the layers inward until the entire surface of the piperade has been covered. You may have some vegetables left over.
Prepare the pre-cook vegetable topping:
Combine all of these ingredients together and drizzle it over the layered vegetables.
Put it all together:
Cover the entire thing, crimping the sides of the pan so that it’s a tight seal. Bake on the middle rack until the vegetables are tender when prodded with a paring knife, about 2 hours. Then, uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
If everything still seems too wet, cook it on the stove top until the excess liquid cooks off.
Make the vinaigrette by mixing all of the ingredients together.
To serve, put the pan under the broiler until the vegetables are lightly browned. Cut into slices and use your spatula to guide it into a fan shape on the serving plate. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and enjoy!
1 Comment
Well, I’m going to disagree and say that the best Pixar film is Monsters Inc. or Up, but Ratatouille does rank pretty high up there for me. :) Despite the rats! (My sister refuses to watch it because she can’t get past the rat in the kitchen, no matter how many times I tell her it’s worth it.) This dish looks amazing, it looks exactly like it does in the movie!
March 10, 2016 at 11:26 am