Cooking with Chef Daniel Boulud on Facebook
I love ratatouille. It’s a great dish to make with all those late-summer vegetables - and the gardens and markets are filled with them this time of year. What’s even more exciting - making ratatouille “Daniel Boulud style” with the master chef himself!
Last week, my good friend, celebrated chef and restaurateur, Daniel Boulud, joined me in our studio kitchen for a special Facebook LIVE to make his rendition of the classic French dish. We had so much fun making ratatouille together, sharing our tips, and answering all your cooking questions.
If you missed my Facebook LIVE show, just click on “Facebook with Daniel Boulud”. Enjoy these photos. And, if you haven’t done so already, please visit Daniel Boulud’s fine restaurants - every one of them is excellent!
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- Chef Daniel and I have known each other for many years – he is among my top three favorite chefs of all time. It is always an honor to cook with him!
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- The counter in our studio kitchen is filled with all the delicious ingredients to make ratatouille – a very popular and traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish.
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- We wanted to make ratatouille because there is such an abundance of vegetables in the garden right now – especially tomatoes!
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- These vegetables were picked fresh from my garden in Bedford, New York – peppers, eggplants, zucchini and all the tomatoes.
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- There is also a plethora of produce in the markets this time of year – it’s just perfect for ratatouille.
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- These fresh eggs came from my chickens at the farm.
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- One of the best things about these Facebook LIVE shows is how easy they are to do – we have our director of photography, Mike Krentzman, shooting the entire show on an iPhone while Luiz Schiel, our audio operator, holds the boom mic overhead.
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- Chef Daniel loved all the tomatoes.
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- For this dish, Chef Daniel prefers not to peel the eggplant – he loves all the flavor from the vegetables. This recipe is what Chef Daniel uses at home and the recipe he loves most for ratatouille.
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- We had many guests joining us in the studio including SVP video, Melinda Lee, our digital marketing director, Marci Greenfield, Facebook’s strategic partner manager of global influencers, Shannon Mattingly, and John Cantarella, director of global influencers, also from Facebook.
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- Also in our studio are Karen Berner, consulting executive producer for our digital team, PR representative for Daniel Boulud, Evyn Block, and our own Laura Rege from our test kitchen.
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- I love answering all the questions we get during our Facebook LIVE shows. One viewer asked how long the ratatouille could last. Chef Daniel and I both said it was best eaten right away, especially when using Daniel Boulud’s recipe.
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- Chef Daniel also said ratatouille could last about a week, and that it is also okay to eat cold.
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- To remove tomato skins, first fill a bowl with ice and water and set it next to the stove. Drop tomatoes into the boiling water, and watch for their skins to wrinkle and split, then transfer to the ice water bath.
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- This is Mary Goeldner, culinary manager at Daniel Boulud.
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- While I cut up the vegetables, Chef Daniel put them in the cast iron pot to sweat – it is a great first step in making this dish as well as other soups, sauces and stews.
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- Chef Daniel likes to use cast iron for ratatouille. These pots are from my collection at Macy’s. goo.gl/kDfAZd
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- Here, Chef Daniel is sautéing the eggplant as I cut the tomatoes and remove all the flesh. Have you ever had tomato water? Its flavor is the essence of pure tomato.
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- To make ratatouille a bit spicy, add some red pepper flakes, but if children are also eating this dish, don’t add too many. Lots of children love ratatouille – they relate the dish to the 2007 animated movie comedy.
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- Look at this eggplant – it roasts extremely well in the pan.
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- Watching our show on the iPhone are John, Shanon and Ricky Van Veen, director of global creative strategy at Facebook.
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- Chef Daniel explained how to cut the garlic – he keeps his fingers curled and pushes the garlic clove with his thumb. Watch how he does it on the show. Daniel added a good amount of garlic to our ratatouille.
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- Another viewer asked what other ingredients could be added to ratatouille. We said don’t use ginger and don’t use beets – traditional ratatouille has a lot of wonderful ingredients in it already.
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- This dish is filled with lots of vegetable flavor, so Daniel says it is okay to use a lot of olive oil.
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- The browning eggplant is so beautiful – it all smelled so good in our Martha Stewart kitchen from The Home Depot. We do a lot of our Facebook LIVE shows from this kitchen at our Starrett Lehigh offices. http://www.homedepot.com/c/SPC_BRD_MSL_Kitchen
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- Ratatouille is also great served with focaccia bread – a flat oven-baked Italian bread usually topped with herbs or other ingredients.
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- Another question came in asking what cocktail would go with ratatouille. Daniel said when eating alfresco, a good rose wine would be perfect.
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- Ratatouille is so easy to make. Daniel’s recipe can be made this weekend!
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- Afterwards, it can be served with a roast or with eggs for breakfast. I was so excited to take one home for dinner too! If you missed our Facebook LIVE show with Chef Daniel Boulud, be sure to click on Facebook and watch our video! https://www.facebook.com/marthastewart/videos/10154468041431289/
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