French Fridays: Ratatouille quiche

For today’s French Friday, I’m bringing you two of my favourite French dishes in one – a ratatouille quiche!  I ate a lot of ratatouille over the summer, simply because the tomatoes and produce was so beautiful in France and try as I may, I couldn’t get out of a market without eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini.  Ratatouille is a dish that I make often, but I don’t tend to stick to one recipe (I’ve made Clotlide’s version, Julia Child’s, a clafoutis version and a couple of other simple versions). The basic ingredients are the same (tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, onions, garlic) but sometimes I slice them, sometimes I dice them; sometimes I serve it hot, sometimes at room temperature; sometimes as a main dish, sometimes a side… You get the idea.

The inspiration for this dish came last week in France as I was frantically trying to make sure we didn’t throw any food away as we left the house. You can be sure of a few things about my fridge in France. You will always find rolls of pre-made puff pastry (all butter), eggs and some form of ratatouille (either cooked or in ingredient form).

On the second last night in the house, as we bid farewell to friends at 9pm (they had come over at 6pm for “a quick drink”!), I wondered what I could rustle up for dinner and hit upon this. Combining most of the ingredients in the fridge would produce a vegetable quiche. More specifically, a ratatouille quiche. It was excellent, eaten by candlelight on the terrace. I made it again this week and while it was good, it wasn’t quite the same. But hey, it did bring a little bit of the South of France to Toronto…

Ratatouille quiche

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Prep Time 40 mins

Cook Time 50 mins

Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Ratatouille in quiche form.

Yields 6

Ingredients

• 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 75g eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 100g zucchini, sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 large red onion (around 200g) thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 9-inch puff pastry shell
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Toss the cherry tomato halves, garlic, eggplant, zucchini and red onion with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Spread the vegetables on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 40 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature.
6. Meanwhile, unroll the puff pastry and place it in a 9-inch pie tin/ tart pan lined with parchment paper.
7. Evenly place the vegetables in the pastry shell.
8. Pour over the lightly beaten eggs, shaking the tin a little to evenly distribute the egg.
9. Fold the edges of dough up and around the filling, working your way around the tin. You'll end up with pleated edges that are a little rough but that's ok!
10. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little of the beaten egg (egg wash) and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the egg has set and the edges of the tart are puffed and golden.
11. Serve warm.

by Mardi Michels

Bon appétit et bon weekend!