Confit byaldi

Confit byaldi is an interpretation of the classic French dish ratatouille by American chef Thomas Keller, made for the 2007 film  Ratatouille.

Invention of the dish
French chef Michel Guérard invented a "Confit Bayaldi" as early as 1976, replacing ratatouille's traditional rough-cut vegetables with thinly sliced rounds. The name is a play on the Turkish dish, " İmam bayıldı", which is more of a stuffed eggplant. The dish has appeared sporadically on menus in France and the United States ever since.

American celebrity chef Thomas Keller first wrote about a dish he called "byaldi" in his 1999 cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook. Beginning in mid 2000, he served as food consultant to the Pixar film, Ratatouille, allowing its producer Brad Lewis to intern for two days in the kitchen of his restaurant, French Laundry. Lewis asked Keller how he would cook ratatouille if the most famous food critic in the world were to visit his restaurant. In a moment of inspiration, he fanned the vegetables in a high sculptural form with a palette knife. The dish became the focus of the climatic scene in the film, and its depiction so appealing that Keller exclaimed it made him hungry to watch.



Preparation and serving
A piperade is made of peeled, finely chopped, and reduced bell peppers, yellow onions, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. The piperade is spread thin in a baking tray or casserole dish, then layered on top with evenly-sized thinly-sliced rounds of zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese eggplant, and roma tomatoes, covered in parchment paper, then baked slowly for several hours to steam the vegetables. The parchment is removed so that the vegetables may be roasted. To serve, the piperade is formed into a small mound, and the rounds arranged in a fanned-out pattern to cover the piperade base. A balsamic vinaigrette is drizzed on the plate, which may be garnished.

Despite the delicate preparation and presentation, like most ratatouilles, confit biyaldi improves with age for several days in the refrigerator.