Testi Kebabı (Pottery Kebab) vs Ratatouille

Both dishes build on onion, garlic, bell pepper, tomato and olive oil, but they put these ingredients to very different work. In Testi Kebabı, cubed lamb is mixed by hand with the raw vegetables, tomato paste, dried oregano and thyme, then sealed in a clay pot with dough and baked for three hours, until the meat is very tender in its own juices. Ratatouille contains no meat: onion, garlic and peppers are sautéed first, eggplant and zucchini are browned, then everything simmers with tomatoes, fresh thyme and a bay leaf before a finish of fresh parsley. One is a hearty, savory lamb stew; the other a soft, herb-scented medley of vegetables.