Oven-Baked Ratatouille: One Tray, 45 Minutes

Oven-baked ratatouille is the relaxed version: chop the vegetables, season them, tip them onto a tray and bake for 45 minutes. No constant stirring, no three pans going at once – and the dry heat makes the vegetables sweeter than they'd ever get on the hob.

Mid-August is exactly the moment for this, when aubergine, courgette, peppers and tomatoes all sit side by side at the market. That's the appeal of it: you're buying four vegetables that ripened in the same month, and together they simply make sense.

Ingredients

Serves 4:

• 1 aubergine (about 400g)
• 2 courgettes
• 2 peppers, red and yellow
• 500g ripe tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried thyme, rosemary and oregano, mixed
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 handful of fresh basil, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (conventional) and have a deep tray or a large baking dish ready.
2. Wash the aubergine and courgettes and cut them into roughly 1.5cm-thick half-moons with the 17cm nakiri knife. The wide, straight blade goes straight down through the vegetables without rocking, so every piece comes out the same thickness and cooks evenly.
3. Deseed the peppers and cut into wide strips, cut the onion into wedges, and roughly dice the tomatoes.
4. Spread the vegetables out on the tray, drizzle over the olive oil, add the peeled garlic finely chopped, and mix through with the honey and salt. Grind the dried herbs freshly over the top with the herb mill – ground fresh, they release far more flavour than they would straight from the jar.
5. Bake for 45 minutes, turning everything once after about 25 minutes so the pieces underneath get some colour too.
6. Take the tray out and leave it to rest for 5 minutes, so the juices settle.
7. Serve with freshly ground pepper and roughly torn basil, warm or at room temperature.

kjøk tip

Even-sized pieces matter more for roast vegetables than any amount of seasoning: cut unevenly, and the courgette turns mushy while the pepper is still raw. The nakiri's tall, straight blade helps twice over here – it cuts cleanly through, and you can slide the finished slices onto the tray in one go with the flat of it. Dried herbs, incidentally, only really open up once they're freshly ground onto hot oil; you'll find the right mills under Mills & Grinders, and everything else for the rest of the dish under Cooking & Frying. As for care: wash the knife by hand after the vegetables and dry it straightaway, never in the dishwasher, and sharpen it regularly – a blunt blade shows itself immediately on tough skins like aubergine and pepper. Store the herb mill somewhere dry, and never grind over a steaming pot, or the mechanism will clog up.

FAQs

Do I need to salt the aubergine first?

Not really, not with today's varieties – the bitterness has largely been bred out of them. If you do salt it for 15 minutes and pat it dry, it will soak up a little less oil later on. But it's not essential.

Can I make ratatouille ahead or reheat it?

Very well, in fact. The next day it's often even better, once the flavours have had time to come together. Reheat it in the oven at 160°C rather than in the microwave, and the vegetables will stay with a bit of bite.

What goes well with ratatouille?

Baked potatoes, couscous, or simply some sturdy bread to mop up the juices. As a main for four, it's plenty with a dollop of Skyr or some feta on top.