18 August 2014
Welcome Friends. A few weeks ago I went to Lollapalooza. It is an outdoor 3 day music festival that takes over Grant Park, in downtown Chicago, every summer. I caught the tail-end of Lucius and their singers were amazing. I had a single day pass for Friday, and the crowd was very young. I guess that was because Lorde was performing that day. It's funny, but I never know who most of the bands are, but it is fun discovering new music. My favorite performer was Lykke Li, but I already knew that I liked her music. I thought that she put on a great show, but no one mentions her in their top 20 lists.
It was Sunday night before I had the chance to make ratatouille. I started late and that is big mistake because this dish takes about 3 hours to make. Keep that in mind, if you decide to try the recipe. There is a lot of chopping and sautéing before the dish gets put in the oven for an hour. I recommend saving this one for the weekend, but you can reheat it or serve it cold.
There is a lot of eggplant in this dish. I like to use the round, purple ones. I've seen them called "sicilian" at the grocery store. If you have a garden or frequent the summer farmer's markets, you will be able to find most of the ingredients for this dish very cheap.
There are a couple of tricks to making this dish. The first is sautéing each of the ingredients separately. This helps the vegetables maintain their shapes. Ratatouille is a marriage of flavors, but the elements remain unique. I sauté in the order listed and build the dish in an 3.5 quart dutch oven. This leads me to the second trick which is finishing the dish in the oven. That adds a depth to the flavors which you can't get if you simmer it on the stove top.
Ratatouille
2 hr prep time | 1 hr bake time
Ingredients
serves 6 to 8
- 1 Tbl butter
- 4 Tbl olive oil
- 3 eggplants, cut into cubes
- 3 zucchini or yellow squash, cut into cubes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 8 springs of fresh thyme
- 12 fresh basil leaves
- 1 medium onion, cut lengthwise into strips
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into cubes
- 1 orange bell pepper, cut into cubes
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 or 4 medium tomatoes, cut into large chunks
Directions
place 1 Tbl olive oil and 1 Tbl butter in a large pan and melt over medium heat. I like to use the round, purple, eggplants. I've seen them called "sicilian" at the grocery. Add the cut eggplants and sauté for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to stir and turn the eggplants a few times while they are browning. Pour the eggplant in the bottom of a 3.5 quart dutch oven.
add 1 Tbl olive oil to the sauté pan and then add the zucchini. I like to swap out one of the zucchini for yellow squash. Sauté this for about 7 minutes, stirring and turning the vegetables a few times. Layer this into the dutch oven, over the eggplant.
turn the oven on at 375° F.
sprinkle the salt and pepper over the vegetables in the dutch oven. Arrange the thyme and basil on top of the sautéd vegetables.
add 1 Tbl olive oil to the sauté pan and then add the onion strips. Cook these over medium heat for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Layer this over the herbs in the dutch oven.
add 1 Tbl olive oil to the pan and sauté the orange and red peppers for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Layer them over the onion in the pot.
place the tomatoes in the pan. Once the juices start to bubble, scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes, add the garlic and simmer for an additional minute. Pour this over the peppers. Do not stir.
cover the pot and place it in the oven to roast for 1 hour. Remove the pot from the oven and stir the vegetables. Pull out the twigs of thyme as you stir. Serve this dish hot or cold.