Hello guys and welcome to my channel! I hope you are ready for a short trip to France
and specifically to Nice! Because today, we are making Ratatouille! A traditional stew full of vegetables in a
hearty tomato sauce that goes perfectly with a slice of freshly toasted bread! All the Mediterranean flavors in a bite! I’m so happy I’m showing this recipe today
because it’s actually the most Mediterranean stew
you can have at your home. We have all these lovely veggies…eggplant,
courgette, onion, peppers, garlic, and of course tomato, and we will combine them to
perfection to make a ratatouille. Ratatouille is so easy to make and actually
it’s the gourmet version of vegetable stew because we have to make sure that all the
pieces we are going to cut from the veggies are equal and nice. Now, let’s begin. First of all, I will show you my way to make
ratatouille because the only vegetable that needs more care than the others is this vegetable
that’s called eggplant, “melitzana”. It’s the princess of all veggies, I love eggplant. I think it’s the most charismatic vegetable
from all other veggies, sorry about that. Because you can make so many things with eggplant, but you have to make sure to cook eggplant properly. I have two pans here. One pan for all the veggies and one pan for
my lovely “melitzana”, eggplant. So, first of all, I need to start with the eggplant because eggplant needs more time than all other veggies. And if we don’t cook the eggplant properly, then it will not have the taste that we
want from the eggplant. Now, I have an eggplant here. I will cut the top. Then, we have to cut the eggplant into thin
slices, like this. As you can see, inside the eggplant, there are seeds. If we see that there is a big amount of seeds, then we have to put the eggplant along with some salt for about half an hour to take the bitterness off. If the seeds are okay…this is an okay aubergine,
the seeds are not so many, use then we can the eggplant straight away. You got it? After we cut thin slices, we’re going
to make nice batons. Then, cut into nice brunoise like this. I have my pan…it’s hot, very hot. But I need to carry on with the rest of the eggplant. And the last piece here and here. This is it! Oh my God, a big amount huh? My pan is extremely hot. I need about four tablespoons of olive oil
and the eggplant goes in. Lovely! Now, you can ask me something… What is the question that I want to hear? -How long do we cook it? Okay, this is one question. About eight to ten minutes, sautéing very well. And the second question is…why don’t we
use only one pot to make the recipe? Because we have a big amount of eggplant here
and if we start with the eggplant in the pot, then we cannot caramelize the other veggies. We have to take them off and carry on
with the procedure. So, it’s a waste of time. We want to save some time and this is the
best way to do it. Eggplant separately…and now, let’s start
with the pot here because we need to caramelize all the veggies. And everything starts with an onion. Actually, in this situation, two onions. We need big pieces, chunks of onion. And we need them to be the same size
with the eggplant. You have to put all the veggies in the way
that I will show you now. So, first we will start with the onion. Good chunks, in the way we will cut all the veggies. They will caramelize evenly and nice. In the pot, we need olive oil and we need
again three to four tablespoons of olive oil. It’s a recipe with a lot of olive oil but
it’s good fat, we need this fat… and you need to use extra virgin Greek olive oil. Onions go in. The caramelization has also started in the pot. So, mix-mix and something beautiful
starts happening. Eggplants are also being sautéed to the other
pan and let’s carry on with the next veggie. Which will be the next veggie, my friend Lakis? -The red pepper? No. -Zucchini is the next. No, it’s not zucchini. It’s the garlic. Three cloves of garlic. This is it, garlic goes in. Next veggie, my friend Lakis. -Zucchini. Again, we need to thinly slice the zucchini
like the aubergine, the same size. Then, we need to cut into small cubes. During the time you will need to chop all the veggies, the other veggies will caramelize properly in the pan. So, we need two to three minutes to chop the zucchini and it’s enough time for the onion to caramelize. You can chop-chop everything
and just make the recipe after, but I love to make the recipe at the same time
while I’m chopping things. After two to three minutes, when the onion
is caramelized, it’s time for the zucchini. Zucchini goes in. And again, we need to caramelize everything together. It’s time for the pepper. Pepper is the most adorable vegetable of Lakis. He can live only with peppers. Again, same size. They will go inside my pot along with the
onions, zucchinis, and of course the garlic. Mix and mix everything together. And it’s time for the eggplant to go also in. We need good seasoning now. Pepper… salt. And a good amount of thyme. I need my thyme. Before a couple of days, we calculated how
many videos I’ve done on Greek TV all this time. With YouTube and Greek TV, it’s more than
five thousand videos! So, five thousand times I’ve said that this
is the best food you’ve ever tried. I’m a pro of recipes. Now, it’s time to deglaze the pan. I need all these lovely ingredients here. First, we need some sugar. We need to make it a little bit sweeter because
the tomatoes are not always so sweet. We need the tomato paste. Mix everything together. Deglaze the pan with some red wine. Make sure that the wine is completely evaporated,
and then add the tomato. Lower the heat and simmer for about twenty
minutes until the ratatouille is ready. My ratatouille is ready! Make sure that you’re not over stirring the ratatouille because you will mash all the veggies
and this is something we do not want. I will add some Mediterranean touches. Lemon zest to make it sexier. If you want, you can add some basil. I love basil, too. We need to add some freshness. So, add a little bit of basil. Some basil and zest to the end. Check the seasoning… this is lovely. This is the best garnish for every food you like. For a nice steak, for fish, for anything you
like, this is the best garnish. But you can also serve it as it is. A nice bruschetta here with some ratatouille on top. The amazing thing with ratatouille is that
you can keep it in the fridge for at least three to four days and you can serve it cold
or hot, whatever you want. It’s the best garnish, it’s the best side
dish, you can serve it in so many different ways. Some basil on top. Of course… extra virgin Greek olive oil. Some herbs here to make my platter better. And if you like to add some feta cheese or
any white cheese you like, you can add. Even goat cheese or whatever you want. Freshly ground pepper…and this is heaven. Enjoy! And after this enjoyment, you know what you
have to do. You have to subscribe to my channel…
please, push the button and become one of the members of Akis’ Kitchen! Yes! Thank you so much. See you next time! Bye bye!
Gia sas!
