Delightfully Soupy & Hearty Ratatouille

Name: The Chef’s Knife
Brand: Artisan Revere
SKU: Chef-Blu-Mahog-86
Price: 445.0 USD
Availability: InStock

3 MINUTE TL;DR READ | 10 MINUTE FULL READ

BY: DAVID OLKOVETSKY

Prep time: 30 mins | Cook time: 30 mins | Servings: 6 servings

The Fresh New Ratatouille Your Family Will Obsess Over

Ratatouille is one of those dishes that seem fancy and out of reach, but trust us, it's not. Not only is it simple and fairly quick to make, it's easy to make in voluminous quantity. Yes, time saving meal preparation is a favorite over here at Artisan Revere, and there aren't many dishes we can think of that are nutritionally dense, healthy, and delightful. Not to mention, it's supremely versatile, and goes well with fish, meat, rice, pasta, or bread. Go ahead, give this a go — your tastebuds and doctor will be happy.

So here's the SECRET. Make it a day in advance if you can. Ratatouille, while fantastic hot, is best served cold.

1 eggplant cut in 1” thick cubes
2 large zucchini in 1/4” thick slices or half moons
2 large yellow squash in 1/4" thick slices or half moons
1# bag of carrots, peeled & cut in a large dice
2 large bell peppers cut into a large dice
8 oz of mushrooms of your choice (non-traditional)
1 large onion, sliced or diced
1 28oz can of peeled tomatoes, drained and rough chopped or pureed
½ head of garlic, roughly chopped
1 bag of spinach
8 oz. of bone broth (optional)
Olive oil
Salt + pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon each: thyme + rosemary + oregano
1 tsp sugar (optional)
Fresh basil chiffonade

Tools:

A Sharp Petty Knife and/or Chef's Knife
Cutting Board (end-grain is preferable)
Mise en place bowls
Large non-stick pot or dutch oven
Colander

Preparation

TL;DR Directions (Short Version):

Prep & cut eggplant, zucchini and squash to size. Salt and then dry.

Eggplant: 1” cubes. Optionally, place in collander, add salt, and mix over sink or large bowl. Let sit for 15-30 minutes to help remove the the bitterness. Wash off the salt and pat dry with towel.

Zucchini & Squash: 1/4” half moons or slices.
Carrots: large dice or faux tourné

Mushrooms: large slices

Bell Peppers: large dice

Onion: large dice or slices

Garlic: large pieces in a rough chop

Tomatoes: skinned, rough chopped or pureed

Spinach: as is
Heat up a large non-stick skillet or non-stick pot on medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, until warm.
Add coconut oil or light olive oil. Coconut oil is a personal favorite — I love the flavor it adds, but it’s not for everyone. Olive oil works amazingly well too. Keep the oil on the pan for about 1 minute so it gets warm. Reduce to low heat.
Add onions and carrots to the pot. Heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent.
Add half the garlic you cut, and heat for about 1 minute until fragrant.
If you'd like, add a tablespoon of tomato paste.
Add zucchini, squash, eggplant, mushrooms. Cover and heat on low for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence.
Add spinach, tomatoes, and garlic. If you'd like to sweeten, you can sprinkle in a bit of sugar. Cover and heat for another 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Optional: Add 4 oz. of bone broth. Stir. Remove the lid. Continue to simmer.
Add the remaining 4 oz. Heat for another 10-30 minutes on low heat, until you've achieved desired consistency.
Let cool. Ratatouille is best served cold.

Shop Our Top Tools

The Chef’s Knife

Small Petty Knife

End-Grain Cutting Board

Detailed Provencal Ratatouille Preparation Process

Detailed Directions:

Ratatouille is a fairly forgiving dish, so you should feel free to experiment. If you don't like certain ingredients, or have issues with nightshades like eggplant, skip them (this author often does).

1. Prepare your eggplant & zucchini first.

Cut the ends of the eggplant and zucchini. Remove the skin from eggplant with a peeler. Cut both into 1" cubes. Place a collander over a large bowl. Add the eggplant and zucchini to the collander and toss with salt. Let it sit there for 15-30 minutes. Wash off the salt and then place them in a baking sheet and press down lightly with paper towel to remove the excess moisture.

Science of why we salt eggplant: Eggplant used to be bitter. But thanks to modern agriculture, this is has mostly been eliminated. Now, we salt eggplant and zucchini to draw out the water and season it.

Diced potatoes on an Artisan Revere end grain cutting board

2. Cut the remaining vegetables to size.

You can do this while the eggplant and zucchini are in the colander. For ratatouille, we want most of our vegetables on the thicker side. For carrots, we'll opt for a large dice or faux tourné. For our mushrooms, we large slices. Incidentally, to maximize the flavor of the mushrooms, instead of cutting them, you may choose to rip them. Bell peppers are best with a large dice. Onion woks well either with a large dice or 1/4" thick slices. For your garlic, we like large pieces in a rough chop. Finally, tomatoes have the most optionality. If you choose to work with grape tomatoes, there is no need to skin them. If using canned tomatoes, opt for skinned tomatoes. Many recipes disagree here when it comes to rough chopped or pureed. Either way works brilliantly.

Safety Tip: Remember for safety to avoid cutting items that can roll on your board. This means cutting most items in half lengthwise.

3. Heat up your non-stick pot or dutch oven.

Heat up a large non-stick skillet or non-stick pot on medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, until warm.

4. Add fat.

This author's personal favorite is coconut oil. Olive oil is more traditional. Coat the pot with about 1/4 cup. Heat for about 1 minute and reduce to low heat.

5. Add onions and carrots to your pot.

Add onions and carrots to the pot. Heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent.

6. Add garlic.

Add half the garlic you cut, and heat for about 1 minute until fragrant.

7. Add tomato paste.

If you'd like, add a tablespoon of tomato paste.

8. Add remaining vegetables.

Add zucchini, squash, eggplant, mushrooms. Cover and heat on low for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence.

Note: This is a soupy ratatouille. This is why we are adding the high moisture vegetables now. If you'd like to achieve a crispy ratatouille, you would heat these vegetables over oil before adding onions and carrots. This method takes meaningfully longer because it is important not to overcrowd the pot.

9. Add the spinach, tomatoes & garlic.

Add spinach, tomatoes, and garlic. If you'd like to sweeten, you can sprinkle in a bit of sugar. Cover and heat for another 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

10. Add bone broth.

Optional: Add 4 oz. of bone broth. Stir. Remove the lid. Continue to simmer.

Add the remaining 4 oz. Heat for another 10-30 minutes on low heat, until you've achieved desired consistency.

Let cool. Ratatouille is best served cold.

Parboiled & mixed potatoes in a bowl with fat and seasoning added.

Thats all there is to it. This soupy ratatouille makes a great side, goes well with animal proteins, and is delightful over bread, rice, and pasta. As always, if you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Customer Reviews

A Dream

I'm having so much fun getting acclimated to my new knife. Immediately noticeable was how light it was in comparison to my current daily driver. This translates into a wonderful nimble-ness when in use, feeling very much like a natural extension of my intent as I cut rather than a tool for which I need to plan each movement. The details are beautifully considered, and I was pleasantly surprised by both the rounded spine and the very useful point at the heel. I'm so glad I finally treated myself to this knife!!

Incredible chef’s knife

I ordered a chef’s knife that was out of stock so I knew there would be a delay, but the company kept me updated on everything that was going on with my knife (approximately when the steel would be there, when it got there, went into production, etc.) Customer service was above and beyond in every way. So is the knife. Incredibly sharp, great weight and balance, ergonomics are spot on. This is a fast and fun knife.

Outstanding knife

I love this chef’s knife. It is a very comfortable knife to use and wicked sharp. I was surprised by how lightweight the knife is, I’m used to heavier weight knives. I was a bit concerned until I used if for the first time. It’s so easy to use, the lightweight aspect is not an issue, it’s a benefit for bigger cutting and chopping tasks.

I own chef’s knives from Bloodroot Blades, Misen and Frederick Dick. All are great for their own reasons but my new Artisan Revere knife is fast becoming my favorite. I’ve used it a dozen or so times for various tasks and it makes even mundane work a pleasure. I’m interested to see the longevity of the sharpness. I’m used to honing with each use and using my work sharp belt sharpener every 4-5 months. So far the Artisan chef knife has held its edge longer than I am used to. I love this knife and look forward to continue to challenge it. You can’t go wrong buying this knife. PS I also own the petty knife. I bought that before the chef.

Incredible Kitchen Tool

The Artisan Revere Chef's knife is the best overall knife I’ve ever worked with.

Mine came RAZOR sharp and it stays that way for an insanely long time. I just do a quick hone on my honing rod and occasionally pop it onto a 1,000 grit stone and it’s back to perfection.

The other thing I’ve noticed with my Artisan Revere knife is how unbelievably comfortable it is. All of my other knives are really rough on my hands. My Artisan Revere knife feels incredible and I’ve been cooking wayyyyy more because of it.

I love this knife. It was the best investment I’ve made in a long time.

Top tier knife

First impression as soon as I got my package was wow. This company did a fantastic job on delivery and packaging of this knife. Second thing you notice is how light and well balanced the knife actually is. NOW for the actual performance of the knife. This is an honest review. I own over 70 plus fine western and Japanese knives ranging from brands and metals that you’re probably familiar with to ones that you probably wouldn’t have heard of. Wustof, henkels, global, Kramer, miyabi, kikuichi, sekai Takayuki, Mac, masakage. And metals such as zdp 189, 52100, Hap 40, aogami supers, white #2 you get the picture. Out of the box sharpness was just ok and that’s fine I’m usually not a fan of factory edges from a lot of knife makers. So after 2 days of use I sharpened my knife on the cerax 1000 and rika 5000 then Shapton 8000. And NOW THIS KNIFE IS SCARY SHARP. It took a scary sharp edge and now glides thru vegetable prep. I work in catering for over 14 years, so I know my way a knife. We do large amounts of prep and only time will tell how the edge holds up. Love the handle it’s super comfortable and appreciate the height of the knife. Also love how smooth the metal around the choil is. And the leather sheath he really nice. If you are an experienced knife sharpener which I’m sure if your buying this knife most of you are, pull the trigger you won’t be disappointed. I just recommend a good hand sharpening to unlock its true and full potential.

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