Your Cooking Lesson

Advice, explanation, and in-depth information to help you achieve recipe success.

Early fall is peak season for Mediterranean vegetables. Tomatoes are dead-ripe and juicy to bursting. Bell peppers that have been green for much of the summer growing season have finally turned bright yellow or red. Eggplant is plump and glossy. Herbs are at their height of flavor. And zucchini is out of control. It’s as though these plants know they have but a few short weeks of glory before the first hard frost arrives.

Although each of these vegetables is delicious in its own right—starring solo as an appetizer or side dish—when they’re cooked together the result is a sum that is definitely greater than the parts. The best-known melange of zucchini, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes is ratatouille, a vegetable stew from Provence, in the south of France. The name ratatouille is a mixture of Medieval Occitan and modern French, likely derived from the French verb touiller, meaning “to stir or mix.” But similar dishes can be found all around the Mediterranean rim: Italian ciambotta, Greek briam, Moroccan kamfounata, and Turkish şakşuka. All of these recipes are subject to regional and personal variations. Our recipe features the bold garlic flavor and Italian herb medley of ciambotta but, because we’re serving it with polenta, leaves out the traditional potatoes.

In Italy the classic starch contorno, or side dish, served with sausage is polenta. Polenta is the Italian name for cornmeal mush (admittedly a less attractive term). Before the Columbian exchange, the peoples of the Roman Empire frequently ate porridge, called pulmentum, made from various simmered grains. In the 16th century, after the discovery of the New World by Europeans, Italians began growing field corn and grinding it into meal. The old Latin term became polenta, signifying a porridge made by long-simmering cornmeal in water. Today, traditional polenta is made in much the same way, requiring constant stirring. Now, however, we can buy instant polenta that has been par-cooked. This saves a lot of time and elbow grease, and results a smooth-textured product that is practically foolproof to make. One of the special characteristics of polenta is that, when cooled, it gelatinizes into a mass solid enough to slice and fry. Although soft, freshly-simmered polenta is a delicious dish in its own right, I think crispy fried polenta is even better.

Let’s prep!

Making fried polenta starts by making soft polenta. You’ll combine the granular instant polenta with cold water and some salt in a saucepan and whisk them together to make a smooth, very loose mixture. This allows the par-cooked polenta granules to slowly start absorbing water and avoid lumping. (If you have a nonstick saucepan, it’ll make cleanup a lot easier!) Then, turn on medium heat and slowly warm the mixture up, whisking constantly, until it thickens. Stabilize the heat so that the polenta bubbles gently without spattering, stirring all the while. If the polenta becomes too thick before the granules have softened to a rustic but not grainy texture, stir in a little more water and continue cooking. When the polenta becomes too thick for the whisk, change to a heat-proof plastic spatula or wooden spoon. With instant polenta this takes only about 10 minutes. So, if you don’t have time to pre-make firm polenta as part of prep, you can make soft polenta at dinnertime—it’s delicious in its own right.

Once you have hot, fully-cooked soft polenta you can mold it in any vessel you please. But the most efficient way to make fried polenta wedges is to mold it in the same nonstick sauté pan in which you plan to fry it. Place a little olive oil in the pan, warm it and swirl so that it coats the entire inside surface, and then scrape in the polenta. Smooth the top surface and cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate for about an hour until the polenta is set. It will feel firm and springy when touched. If you don’t need the sauté pan for any other purpose and there’s room in the ‘fridge, just slide the pan into a plastic bag and refrigerate until needed.

As for many of our summer (and year-round) recipes, for the ratatouille you’ll need tomato concassé. Blanch the tomatoes for a few seconds in rapidly-boiling water and then refresh under cold water to loosen the skins. Core the tomatoes, slip off the skins, halve widthwise, and remove as many seeds as possible. For this recipe you’ll need to coarse chop the tomatoes.

Begin fabricating the ratatouille vegetables by dicing the zucchini. How to fabricate zucchini depends on its maturity. Most zucchini has tender, tasty skin that adds color to your dish—so it doesn’t require peeling. Peel only if you’re working with very a large, over-developed specimen with tough skin. However, most zucchini does need to be seeded. Unless your zucchini is very small and underdeveloped, it will have a soft, spongy, seedy center. If not removed, this cooks faster than the flesh and skin, resulting in a mushy texture and undigestible seeds in your dish.

Trim both ends of the zucchini, then quarter it lengthwise into spears. Using a paring knife, make a V-shaped cut to remove the seedy center of each spear. To create1/2-inch dice, slit the thick end of each spear in two, leaving the narrower end intact. Then make 1/2-inch cross-wise cuts to create dice.

Clean and 1/2-inch dice the bell pepper. Be sure to remove the spongy interior veins and all of the seeds.

Cut the onion into 1/2-inch dice and then mince the garlic.

Assemble the remaining ingredients and your prep is done. Here’s your mise tray:

It’s dinnertime—let’s COOK!

Frying the polenta takes about 20 minutes, so you’ll start it first. Slide the firm polenta out of its pan and cut it into two wedges per person. Wipe out the pan, place it over medium heat, and add some olive oil. Return the polenta wedges to the pan, rounded-side-down. Fry the polenta for about 10 minutes, checking the underside of the wedges occasionally to ensure they don’t scorch. Adjust the heat appropriately. Polenta requires a generous amount of oil to fry up crisp and golden brown. If you try to use oil sparingly, you’ll see the polenta browning in specks, rather than evenly. This is OK—just don’t let the specks get too dark, and add more oil if you no longer hear the sizzle of frying. When the bottoms of the wedges are crisp, turn them over and add more oil around the edges. The polenta wedges will shrink in size as the heat forces out some of their moisture content. Fry for about 10 minutes longer until both sides are crisp and golden.

While the polenta is frying, set up your grill station per the recipe directions.

Fabricate the eggplant just before cooking it. For all cuisines, I prefer the long, slender Asian eggplants because of their firmer texture and because they have fewer seeds than the large standard variety. Unless your eggplant has very thin, tender skin, peel it. Then cut lengthwise into spears and crosswise into dice.

Some of the vegetables in your ratatouille have different textures and, so, require separate cooking. Further, to sauté correctly (with high heat to remove moisture, firm texture, and caramelize natural sugars), you can’t crowd the pan. Cooking your vegetables separately is a pro step that will pay off in the final texture of your product. Be sure to use pure olive oil with a high smoke point, rather than extra-virgin oil. Heat the pan as hot as possible, add some oil, and sauté the zucchini with a little salt. Remove it to a bowl. The peppers and onions have similar textures; sauté them together and add them to the same bowl. Finally, sauté the eggplant. Don’t skimp on the oil—for good flavor and texture eggplant requires a lot. Put the eggplant in a separate bowl; because it requires little to no further cooking, you’ll be adding it to the ratatouille at the end of the process.

Make the tomato sauce in the same pan. Because the sauce cooks at lower temperature, you’ll use extra-virgin olive oil for its more pronounced flavor and richer mouthfeel. Heat the oil to barely hot, then add the garlic and let it sizzle for a few seconds only. Don’t let it brown. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt, then simmer until much of the moisture evaporates and the sauce reduces to a moderately thick consistency.

Add the zucchini, onions, and peppers to the sauce, cover, and cook at a brisk simmer for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Before grilling the sausage, use the tip of a paring knife to pierce a line of holes down both sides of each link. This serves two purposes. As the heat from the grill penetrates into the sausage, the ground meat inside tightens and swells, and its natural juices turn into steam. Holes in the casings allow the steam to escape in a controlled way and, thus, prevent the links from bursting open. Holes also allow a little of the fat to drip out.

Sausages grill best over medium heat. It takes time for the casings to brown evenly and not overly char. Once you’ve achieved grill marks on both sides, close the grill’s lid. Cook patiently, checking under the lid often, and turning the sausages often, until they acquire a rich brown color. But don’t overcook, or they’ll become dry and grainy. Check the internal temperature with an instant-read probe thermometer. They should cook to an internal temperature of 155°F to reach 160°F through carryover cooking.

To finish the ratatouille, first chop the herbs. Then add the eggplant to the ratatouille and cook at the simmer until hot though. Evaluate the consistency of the sauce, which should be just thick enough to bind and lightly coat the vegetables. If necessary, correct by thinning or reduction as directed in the recipe. Evaluate the seasoning and, if necessary, add salt. Finally, stir in the herbs just before plating.

Now you’re ready to plate.

Plating this dish is very straightforward. Spoon a portion of the ratatouille into the center of each warmed plate. Arrange the polenta wedges overlapping at the top right, and then tuck an arugula bouquet underneath them at the top of the plate. Arrange two sausages on top of the ratatouille.