Confit Byaldi Recipe

I love making this stunning Confit Byaldi recipe on a beautiful summer day with fresh seasonal vegetables. I thinly slice eggplant, summer squash, and Roma tomatoes, then arrange them in a spiral over a bell pepper piperade and bake everything slowly until every slice is perfectly tender.

Confit Byaldi

Confit byaldi is a French vegetable dish of paper thin summer vegetables arranged in a spiral over piperade and baked slowly until the vegetables melt together into layered ribbons. Michel Guerard invented it in the mid-1970s as an upscale reworking of traditional ratatouille, and Thomas Keller gave it the plated spiral you see in cookbooks and on menus today in his 1999 book, The French Laundry Cookbook. The name is a play on the Turkish dish imam bayildi, which is a stuffed eggplant preparation. The 2007 Pixar film is what took the dish from a regional French curiosity into the world’s mainstream.

A girl I used to go to church with was from France, and she said she hated ratatouille because it was served at so many meals growing up that she could not stand to see another bowl of it. That memory has always sat with me, because it shows how simple the rustic version really is at home in France. Confit byaldi is the version I love making when I want the vegetables to be the star of the plate rather than just another braised side dish. You know what I mean?

One thing I can tell you is that everyone I have ever served this dish to has been floored by how beautiful it looks. The truth is, most of the work comes down to using a mandoline and having a little patience when arranging the spiral. Simplicity, that’s all there is to it!

The dish itself is a showcase of fresh seasonal vegetables cut a specific way and arranged over a properly caramelized piperade. Slice thin, caramelize the onions, season the top of the spiral like you mean it. Then give it the full 90 minutes in the oven without cutting corners on time. And one more time, I want to remind you that good cooking techniques always make meals worth remembering. Sound good? Let me show you how to make this dish.

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this Confit Byaldi recipe, I use fresh summer vegetables. Here is the list, along with a few substitutions that work well too:

For the Piperade:

• Olive oil is the main fat in the sauce and the drizzle over the top of the vegetables before they go in the oven. Vegetables have no fat on their own, so a good pour of olive oil is what gives the dish its flavor. I do not use another oil for this dish.
• Yellow onion – I caramelized slowly in the piperade to give the sauce its sweet and savory baseline. White, sweet, or red will work if that is what is at the market.
• Garlic – A short punch of garlicky umami folded into the caramelized onions. Garlic and vegetables belong together, and the sauce loses a layer without it.
• Red and yellow bell peppers sauteed into the onions to give the piperade its sweet earthy body and its color. Orange or green peppers will work if that is what is in the market.
• Tomato puree is the base of the sauce that sits under the vegetables. Blend your own from ripe San Marzanos or fresh Romas when you can find them. The fresher and more flavorful the puree is, the better the finished dish will be.

For the Spiral:

• Eggplant – Sliced into thin rounds and shingled into the spiral. You know my feelings about eggplant. I’m not a huge fan, but the slices get masked in the middle of all the other vegetables and add a subtly sweet vegetable flavor to the finished dish. Look for the skinniest globe eggplant you can find at the market, or use Japanese eggplant. Either one holds at roughly the same diameter as the tomato, squash, and zucchini rounds. 
• Roma tomatoes – Sliced into rounds the same size as the eggplant and squash. I use Romas for the size consistency, and small vine-ripened tomatoes work when the Romas are not looking their best. The fresh tomato adds fruity acidity to the finished dish.
• Yellow squash and zucchini I sliced thin and folded into the spiral for their subtly sweet and grassy summer flavors. I make this dish in the summer when the garden is overrun with both.
• Fresh thyme sprinkled across the top of the spiraled vegetables before the pan goes into the oven. Earthy, a little minty, with a hint of pepper, and one of my all-time favorite herbs to cook with vegetables.
• Coarse salt and cracked pepper – Vegetables need salt and pepper more than most cooks give them credit for.

How to Make Confit Byaldi

Slice the vegetables: Slice the eggplant, tomatoes, yellow squash, and zucchini into thin rounds on a mandoline or with a sharp chef’s knife. Aim for the same thickness across every round so the spiral cooks at the same rate all the way through.

Caramelize the onions: Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced yellow onion, season with salt, and cook for 5 minutes while stirring frequently. Drop the heat to low and cook another 10 minutes until the onions are well browned and caramelized.

Add the garlic and peppers: Stir in the minced garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 30 to 45 seconds. Add the diced red and yellow bell peppers, bring the heat back up to medium, and saute for 5 minutes.

Simmer the piperade: Pour in the tomato puree, season with salt, and cook over low to medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes.

Blend the sauce: Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend at high speed until smooth. Remove the center piece from the blender cap to let the steam escape while blending. Then, pour the finished sauce into a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a round 10-inch casserole dish.

Layer the spiral: Starting on the inside edge of the pan and working around the sides, layer the eggplant, tomato, squash, and zucchini rounds in that order, keeping every slice upright and shingled against the one before it.

Repeat the same order, all the way around the outer ring, then start a second inner ring and repeat until you reach the center of the pan.

Prep the center rose: Fan out 5 slices each of eggplant, tomato, squash, and zucchini, overlapping them slightly, and roll them up together into a rose.

Set: Place the rose in the center of the pan to close the spiral. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the spiral and season with coarse salt and cracked pepper. Sprinkle the fresh thyme leaves across the surface and cover the pan with foil or a cut parchment round.

Bake covered: Bake on the middle rack at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 to 65 minutes.

Bake uncovered: Remove the foil or parchment and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes. The edges of the vegetables will be lightly browned, and the whole spiral is tender.

Serve: I usually serve it right away with my favorite main dishes.

Serving Suggestions

The best part about this side dish is that you can pair it with pretty much anything. The other day, I simply served it to my family with shrimp skewers and grilled chicken thighs. Oh my, it was so good! I also recommend serving it with some artisan country loaf to soak up any piperade left in the bottom of the pan.

Since we are in the middle of summer and the garden vegetables are thriving, I love making my eggplant Parmesan and a tray of tomato confit alongside this dish. This allows for all three summer eggplant and tomato recipes to complement each other. Leftover confit byaldi is just as good the next day, served cold with a caprese sandwich or reheated in the oven for lunch with a delicious, authentic gazpacho.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: I make this one the same day I plan to serve it, because it looks best right out of the oven. I will hold cooked leftovers overnight when the flavors deepen and eat them the next day.

How to Store: Cover the leftovers and store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This dish also freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw the leftovers overnight before reheating them the next day.

How to Reheat: Warm the leftover confit byaldi in a 350ºF oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until it’s warmed through. The vegetables will be slightly crisp around the edges. Alternatively, reheat individual portions in a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until warm.

More Vegetable Recipes

• Roasted Beets
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Roasted Zucchini
• Fried Green Tomatoes
• Perfect Oven Roasted Potatoes