Issue No. 19

Ratatouille Tian
by Mardi Michels
Serves 2
Prep time: 25 minutes Cook
time: 65–75 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 small (31/2 oz/100 g) yellow
onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic minced 2
tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper,
for seasoning
2 baby or 1 small (7 oz/200 g)
eggplant, thinly sliced
1 medium (5 oz/150 g)
zucchini, thinly sliced
3 Roma tomatoes (10 oz/300
g), thinly sliced in rounds
1/2 teaspoon dried Herbes de
Provence
Olive oil, for drizzling
Flaky sea salt and freshly
ground black pepper, for
seasoning
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You may not know what a tian is, but if you’ve seen the
movie Ratatouille, you’ll be familiar with a version of
this presentation of vegetables sliced thinly, cooked
and served in an elegant stack. The dish you see in the
movie was created by Chef Thomas Keller (of The
French Laundry, among other restaurants), who was a
consultant for the movie. My version of those stacked
vegetables is a little easier for younger or novice cooks
to assemble, but once you’ve mastered it, you’re well
on your way to creating restaurant-worthy ratatouille!
It’s important to choose vegetables that have a similar
diameter, so they stack evenly in the baking dish.
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C).
2. Place the onion slices and minced garlic in the
bottom of a 5- x 7-inch (13 x 18 cm) baking dish.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the 1/2
teaspoon flaky sea salt and some freshly ground black
pepper.
3. Stack the eggplant slices upright against the long
side of the dish so they are slightly overlapping each
other. They should be quite tightly packed. Follow with
a row of zucchini slices, arranged in the same manner.
Next, make a row of tomato slices.
4. Continue in this manner until you have no more
vegetable slices left.
You should have enough vegetable slices and room to
make at least two rows of each vegetable.
5. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables,
sprinkle with the Herbes de Provence, cover the dish
with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
6. Remove the foil from the dish, drizzle with a little
more olive oil and bake, uncovered, for a further 20 to
30 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through.
7. Season to taste. Serve warm or at room
temperature.
Did you know that “tian” is the name not only for this baked
vegetable stew but also the dish it’s cooked in? Traditionally, it
means a shallow earthenware casserole dish, but you can use a
ceramic baking dish for the same effect!