Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Recipe: Ratatouille

This summer, I first tried & fell in love with ratatouille. It's basically a vegetable stew - traditionally, all the vegetables are cooked in separate pots & mixed together at the end. But you can cheat & cook it all in the same pot - only the sequence of veggie additions becomes very important so that they all cook evenly. So it's actually really simple & doesn't take all that much effort. The end result is hearty enough to be a main course (especially when served on rice) but also works really well as a side for just about anything.

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

1 onion
2-4 cloves of garlic
2 green (or red, orange or yellow) peppers
5-6 large tomatoes or 2 large cans of chopped tomatoes
1 medium zucchini (or 2 small)
1 eggplant (or 2 small)
basil
thyme
parsley
salt & pepper
around 1/4 cup olive oil

Methods:

1. Start by slicing your eggplant into coins. Salt both sides & place them in a colander in the sink while you prepare the ratatouille. I'm not exactly sure why, but salting the eggplant for about 10-15 minutes helps to cut down the bitterness of the vegetable.

2. Chop the onion. Add about 1/4 cup of olive oil into a large pot - enough to cover the entire bottom. Add in the onion & turn on medium-low.
3. Chop the garlic (or use a press) & add it to the onion.

4. Chop the peppers & add them to the pot.
5. Chop the tomatoes (or open the cans) & add them to the pot.
Give it a good stir. If it wasn't sizzling a bit before you added the tomatoes, turn up the heat a little bit now.

6. Now it's time for the spices. Add in basil, parsley, thyme, pepper & salt. I add in lots, but it's really up to your taste. Sprinkle them over the top - stir, taste & add more accordingly.

7. Chop the zucchini & add to the pot. Stir occasionally.

8. Rinse the eggplant. Chop it up & throw it in. Give it all a good stir. Taste it again & add more spice accordingly. Let it simmer on medium-low for at least 15 minutes, just make sure it doesn't start boiling too hard. You can leave it on low for up to 45 - 60 minutes. Stir occasionally. The vegetables should be soft when ready.

Best served on brown rice.
Optional: add in some yellow summer squash

1 comment:

TheJoyofColor said...

It looks so Yammi. and the way you pictured evry step is amazing,
I'll try it soon as the weather here is mor like spring now and not winter.
Thanks