Egg-grilled Ratatouille

The Egg is especially great for cooking vegetables. I make a ratatouille based on a recipe by Alice Waters that really shines on the Egg, so I thought I would share it here:

Although the dome will be open for large portions of this cook, start with a fire that is stable at 350 (for more control) or 400 (for a faster cook).




While the Egg is stabilizing, peel and cut a medium-sized eggplant, and 2 zukes into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Cut 3-4 tomatoes in half cross-wise, cut a large onion into 1/4 inch pieces cross-wise, and wash 2 red peppers.

I use both the main grid and a raised grid to do this cook. I use the main grid to cook and colour the vegetables, and the upper grid as a kind-of staging area, where the vegetables begin to get soft. This is a great feature on the Egg, as it both speeds up the entire cook, and helps to ensure that the vegetables are soft throughout, and yet not scorched on the surface. Put a coat of oil on both grids:



The red pepper and tomatoes go on the main grid frist. The red pepper gets cooked the longest, as all sides need to be well roasted. The skin is peeled before eating, so it can get blackened, and will peel or flake off easily after cooking.

Roast the tomatoes flesh side down first:


I now add some of the zukes and eggplant pieces on to the raised grid:


After 6-9 minutes, depending on your fire, move the contents of the raised grid to one side, and flip the tomatoes on the main grid. The red pepper can go a bit longer as it is:


After another 10 minutes, the tomatoes are done, and can be removed. Make sure to flip the pepper, and now you can move some of the eggplant and zukes from the raised grid to the main grid to give them some colour:


This frees up some room so you can get the remaining zukes, eggplant, and onion on the raised grid. You should flip the zukes and eggplant on the main grid every 4 minutes until done. By the time you have worked through all the eggplant and zucchini, the onions should be soft enough to move onto the main grid, and the red pepper will be almost done:


When everything is done, put some peaches on the fire for dessert, and go in to cut the vegetables. Cut the onions, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes into small pieces while the red pepper cools. When cool enough to touch, peel the skin from the peppers, discard the seeds, and cut the pepper into pieces as well, adding it to the other cut vegetables.

Add 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine, 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped, 3tbsp of olive oil, and salt to taste:


I find there are only 2 things needed to make sure this cook goes well - 1) a fire that is between 350 and 400 degrees, and 2) that you turn the eggplant and zucchini every 4 minutes. Usually 4 minutes on each side is enough for them, especially if they spent any time on the raised grid.

This goes great with some grilled sausages!

Mark