Recipe: Karen Martini’s Ratatouille Is Even Better the Next Day

Every home cook needs a good ratatouille in their repertoire. And with Karen Martini by your side, you don’t need Remy to help you make a winning version of the classic Provençal dish.  

“Ratatouille is one of those dishes that inspires great loyalty for particular renditions, from the rustic to the decidedly fancy, with separately cooked and carefully assembled components,” she writes in Cook: Slow, one of four Martini cookbooks released in 2026.

“I prefer the former, and for me a slick of good oil is absolutely key. This can be served warm or at room temperature – and like almost any braise, stew or ragu of this nature, it is always better the next day.”

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Karen Martini’s ratatouille

Serves 8–10
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

3 large eggplants, pricked with a fork
4 red capsicums
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 fresh bay leaves
2 tbsp dried oregano
6 zucchini, cut into 2cm rounds
400g tinned diced tomatoes, or 3 fresh tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp brown sugar
Zest of ½ orange
Juice of 1 orange
Lemon wedges, for squeezing
Flaked salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Add the eggplants to a roasting tin and bake for 1 hour, until tender. Once cooled, cut them in half, then scoop out and roughly chop the flesh.

Scorch the capsicums directly on stovetop burners until charred and tender; you can also grill or barbecue them on high heat. Add to a bowl, cover with a plate and set aside to sweat for 15 minutes. Remove the skins and discard the seeds, then dice the flesh into rough 3cm squares.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the herbs and cook for 5 minutes, then add the zucchini and capsicum, and cook for about 10 minutes.

Stir in the eggplant flesh, tomato, tomato paste, sugar, orange zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper and simmer slowly for about 40 minutes, until the zucchini is tender but still just holding its shape. The mixture will be quite stiff to start with, but the zucchini will let out quite a bit of water as it cooks. It’s important to stir regularly so it doesn’t catch.

Squeeze in some lemon juice before serving warm or cold.

Notes

Warm some ratatouille in a baking dish. Make hollows in the mixture with a kitchen spoon and crack an egg in each. Bake in a moderate oven until the whites are set. This is a delicious breakfast dish – but some white anchovies or quality pink-fleshed anchovies in oil criss-crossed over the top at the end make it a more serious brunch, lunch or even supper offering.

This is an edited extract from Cook: Slow by Karen Martini, published by Hardie Grant (RRP $39.99).