Hairy Bikers ratatouille isn’t the usual stew, because it’s a salad of griddled aubergine and courgette with roast pepper, tomatoes and olives. And their Mediterranean Adventure version serves 4 at about 245 calories each by my sums, in around 90 minutes.
Hairy Bikers admit they’re “not great fans of stewed ratatouille”, so here all the vegetables keep “their shape and flavour”. Then a quick warm dressing of garlic, diced tomato and herbs is drizzled over just before serving.
Salting the slices for 30 minutes, then griddling them on a properly fierce pan, matters most to me. Because dry slices char in clean stripes, while wet ones on a cooler pan just steam and go limp.
Hairy Bikers Ratatouille Recipe
Description
Rounds of aubergine and courgette slices are salted, striped on a hot griddle, then cooled and tossed with leaves, red pepper and yellow cherry tomatoes. Then diced tomato and its juice, barely warmed in garlicky oil, get oregano and basil off the heat and go over the top.
Ingredients
For the salad
For the warm tomato dressing
Instructions
- Salt the vegetables: Sprinkle the aubergine and courgette slices with salt, then leave them to stand in a colander for half an hour.
- Griddle in batches: Pat the slices dry, brush them with oil and heat a ridged griddle pan until it’s too hot to hold your hand over. Then cook them in batches until soft with char lines, about 2 to 3 minutes a side for courgettes and 4 to 5 for aubergines.
- Cool and peel: Let the griddled vegetables cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, score a cross in the 2 dressing tomatoes and cover them with just-boiled water for about 10 seconds, longer if underripe. Then drain them, let them cool slightly and slip off the skins.
- Save the tomato juice: Set a sieve over a bowl, halve the peeled tomatoes and pull out the cores and seeds. Then press the cores and seeds through the sieve to get as much juice as possible, since the jelly holds much of the flavour. After that, dice the flesh.
- Make the warm dressing: Heat the 3 tbsp of oil in a small pan and cook the garlic gently for 2 to 3 minutes without colouring it. Then turn up the heat, add the diced tomato and juice, and turn them in the oil for no more than 30 seconds. That way the tomato stays distinct from the oil instead of turning into a sauce.
- Season the dressing: Take the pan off the heat and season the dressing with salt and pepper. Then stir in the oregano or marjoram and the basil.
- Assemble and serve: Arrange the leaves on a large platter, add the aubergine, courgette, pepper strips and cherry tomatoes, and toss very lightly. Scatter the olives on top, drizzle over the warm dressing and serve at once, warning everyone that the olives have stones.
FAQs
Is there a stewed Hairy Bikers ratatouille?
Not in the 16 books I cook from, though Google’s AI summary credits them with an oven-baked one from a Hairy Dieters book. But the only source it cites for that is a 2018 food blog. And I couldn’t find it in The Hairy Dieters, Make It Easy or Eat Well Every Day, all of which I own.
For vegetables baked together, I’d go for their Mallorcan tumbet, called “a sort of ratatouille with a potato topping” on their BBC episode page. So try it with their roast pork and tumbet. And if you wanted a Mary Berry, Jamie Oliver or James Martin ratatouille, those are separate recipes by those cooks, not Hairy Bikers ones.
Can I use shop-bought grilled vegetables?
Yes, because for a really quick meal they say you can use “the grilled veggies available on the deli counter in supermarkets”. That makes it an easy weeknight version, and a ready-roasted pepper from the same counter saves more time, which is my tip.
To roast your own pepper, I’d borrow the method from their gazpacho in the same book, which adds about 30 minutes plus cooling. So halve and deseed it, then roast it cut side down with a little oil at 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 for half an hour. After that, cover it in a bowl to steam, and peel it once it’s cool enough to handle.
Can I make ratatouille in a slow cooker?
Not this one, in my view, because the point is griddled slices that stay distinct, with their char lines intact. And a slow cooker would soften everything into the stewed style they’re not keen on.
For a stewed ratatouille, Tesco’s slow cooker version takes 4 to 5 hours on high or 7 to 8 on low. Meanwhile BBC Good Food Middle East gives 5 to 6 hours on low, and neither is a Hairy Bikers timing.
What should I serve with it?
As written it’s vegan and gluten-free, so it can be a light main with crusty bread for the warm dressing. Or serve it beside their minty lamb steaks, which is my pairing, since lamb and griddled aubergine are a natural Mediterranean match.
A seared tuna steak works well too, which is my suggestion rather than theirs, because the warm tomato dressing suits fish. And for a bigger Mediterranean spread, their panzanella salad brings bread, charred peppers and anchovies to the table.
Can I make it ahead?
The recipe says serve at once, so this is my approach: griddle the vegetables up to 2 hours ahead, covered at room temperature. Then make the dressing and assemble just before eating, so the leaves stay crisp.
I’d chill any leftovers as soon as the meal is over and eat them within 2 days, though the leaves will wilt under the dressing. So I’d store any spare griddled slices separately, without leaves or dressing.
