It’s funny that I know how to make ratatouille but didn’t know how to spell ratatuille… it took me five attempts to spell it right RATATOUILLE ?
I need to explain, to the French of us, that for me, any time eggplants, peppers and tomatoes are cooked together they are ratatouille (? for spelling). Other wise I have to call it roasted eggplants, tomatoes, peppers… too long and less captivating.
If you’re not in love with eggplants it’s because you never had a good roasted one. When you roast eggplants on high heat their meat gets very tender and sweet and their skin crunchy. It’s the most pleasant and cosy food.
I added star anise because I love its sweetness and licoricy flavor but skip it if your palate isn’t developed yet.
I grounded one star because I like to try stuff, but honestly it’s unnecessary, you can put 1-2 whole ones, but don’t forget to remove them before you serve, the dish is delicious but not worth breaking a tooth for.
Roasted Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 1 onion - sliced
- 3 sticks celery - sliced
- 1 yellow pepper - roughly diced
- 2 medium eggplants - diced
- 6 garlic cloves - chopped roughly
- 4 to matoes - diced
- 2-4 scallion stalks - sliced
- 1-2 star anise
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- Dill or parsley for garnish
For tahini:
- ½ cup tahini butter
- ½ lemon
- ½ cup filtered water
- Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
- Put the vegetables, scallions and star anise on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle salt and toss.
- Roast for 20 minutes or until the vegetable tender, tossing occasionally. The eggplant should be extra tender and golden brown. If your oven is on the hot side, lower it to 380°F/190°C so the veggies don’t burn.
To make the tahini sauce:
- put the tahini butter in a medium bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir gently until the tahini begins to thicken and harden. Little by little stir in the water until the texture becomes very smooth and soft.
- Serve over rice, garnish with dill or parsley and a drizzle of tahini sauce.
