Turkish Ratatouille
This classic Ratatouille of thin sliced eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes are dressed in a Turkish spiced tomato sauce and tangy goat cheese–the perfect light summer accompaniment to your late July dinner.
Jump to RecipeStir It Up
French Ratatouille as we know it originated at the end of the 18th century, and referred to any stew, although the term “Ratatouille” means “stir it up.” It came from Nice in the southern Provence region of the country. Ratatouille is likely a combination of the use of local farm vegetables and a need for a simple stew for the very same local famers.
Turkish Provence
As I’ve talked about before, my boyfriend is Turkish, but his French side (Armenian) were based in the south of France. He spent summers there and is my go to for the authenticity of any French dish or bake that I attempt. He mentioned the Turkish stew Tuvlu, which often includes a meat and is messy. Soon, there will be a link in this article to the Turkish Tuvlu that I make, but, for now, I gave in to the very tight French arrangement of eggplant, zucchini, and tomato.
However, I made sure to make a simple marinara tomato sauce, with red pepper flake, paprika, and sumac, fully Turkish ingredients at heart, and dress the ratatouille with this sauce, half before cooking and half towards the end. I also inserted some beautifully tangy goat cheese in the extra spaces I had where my overlapped zucchini rounds didn’t line up. Honestly, the goat cheese is the clincher. It just pops a little creaminess in the saucy vegetables that dance over your taste buds and provides such a lovely balance. And, the dish is still carb and butter free.
Tips & Tricks
- I think a food processor is your best friend here, since it slices so uniformly and allows you to horizontally stack your vegetables evenly throughout the round or square dish that you use. I used a 9 inch traditional American pie dish, since it was just deep enough for the sliced vegetables to fit.
- If you don’t have the food processor in your repertoire, you can slice the eggplant, zucchini, and tomato yourself–just do your best and use a very sharp knife. Any odd or uneven slices you can discard. Sometimes, I sliced the eggplant slices in half if they were too large for the dish.
- The sauce only needs about ten minutes to come together and it is a good idea to add half the sauce before cooking and the other half about 15 minutes before the end of cooking; that way, the sauce absorbs into the vegetables and yet stays around to dress the dish nicely upon finishing.
Turkish Ratatouille
Equipment
- Food processor with slicing blade, optional
Ingredients
For the Vegetables
- 1 large eggplant, thin sliced
- 2 zucchini, thin sliced
- 3 tomatoes, thin sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 – 4 oz package of goat cheese, crumbled
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- pinch sumac
- pinch paprika
For the Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ bell pepper or hot pepper if desired
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- pinch sumac
Instructions
For the Sauce
- In the olive oil, saute the chopped onion, pepper, and garlic over medium heat for 8-10 minutes until soft and translucent. Add in the tomato paste and seasoning.
- Once combined, raise the heat and add in the tomato sauce. Allow to boil and low heat to simmer for ten minutes, while you prepare the vegetables.
For the Vegetables
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a food processor or by hand with a very sharp knife, thin slice the eggplant, zucchini, and tomato.
- In a 9 inch glass pie dish or similar, drizzle some olive oil and begin to layer the eggplant, zucchini, and tomato around the whole dish. If needed, use two rounds of zucchini per layer since it is usually smaller than the eggplant and tomato slices. If needed, slice the larger eggplant slices in half to fit the dish. You can prop up something like a cup measure against the start of the vegetable wall to hold it up while you build.
- Keep building inner rounds and, in the very center, fill in any space with the same layers.
- Drizzle a little olive oil, salt and pepper onto the vegetables. Take small crumbles of goat cheese and press it all around the ratatouille, into any open spaces between vegetables.
- Spoon half of the sauce evenly over the vegetables. Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Then, add in the rest of the tomato sauce, cover again in foil, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until soft and bubbling.
- Remove foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes before eating. Enjoy the South of France by way of Turkey!
