What in the World Is Ratatouille?

You can thank the French and a certain children’s movie for making ratatouille a household word. Still, many pitmasters are left wondering exactly what ratatouille is. Ratatouille may sound fancy, but like most time-honored classic recipes, it has humble roots.

Thought to hail from southern France, ratatouille was a way for cooks to creatively use a variety of vegetables in one dish. It’s basically a stew that incorporated whatever produce was on hand at the time. Recipes for ratatouille run the gamut from having many ingredients to just highlighting a few key vegetables.

Some ratatouille traditionalists swear that the best way to make a true ratatouille is to cook the vegetables one at a time. Though we can see the benefit, it’s really not necessary. As you’ll taste in this grilled ratatouille recipe, making all the veggies together allows their flavors to meld into a tantalizing dish.

Bottom line? Ratatouille might sound like a complicated food to make, but it’s no different than throwing together a chili or casserole. You have no excuse not to try it for dinner this week.

Partnering Other Foods With Hearty Grilled Ratatouille

Our grilled ratatouille recipe has no problem standing on its own as a main course. Plus, it pairs well with companion side dishes.

Since ratatouille is flavorful and robust, try some of these lighter and less intense partners:

• Crusty bread: A thick loaf of crusty bread accompanied by fresh creamery butter always pleases a ratatouille-eating crowd.
• Salad: Toss up a green salad with colorful vegetable pieces to go alongside your roasted ratatouille straight from the grill.
• Rice: You can top your ratatouille with some white or brown rice. Or offer the rice as an option for guests who want to go light on carbs.
• Omelet: Ratatouille and eggs tend to do well together. Try topping your next omelet with a bit of ratatouille. Or heat up leftover ratatouille to sit next to scrambled or fried eggs.

Be sure to play around with ratatouille made on the grill. See how many different ways you can use it to delight your crowd.