I cannot believe I've had this blog up for two years and I haven't posted about ratatouille yet. It's seriously my favorite vegetarian dish.
Have you seen the Disney movie? You know the part where the rat makes ratatouille for the food critic guy, and as he takes a bite he stops and is transported back to a childhood memory of a warm kitchen that obviously smells amazing and a huge bowl of stew to warm him up on a cold fall day? That is SERIOUSLY what ratatouille tastes like.
It's also super easy to make, and will use up some of the veggies your garden is typically overrun with. I had to go buy eggplant and yellow squash, because we didn't feel like trying to make those work this year, and an onion, but the zucchini and tomatoes are all from the back yard.
The recipe is super easy. It's three steps that you repeat for each food item: Dice, Sautee, Stew.
So here's the recipe with pictures cuz I like pictures.
Ratatouille
1 medium eggplant
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini (medium is a relative term here)
2-3 cups cherry or roma tomatoes (or a mixture)
1 onion
The idea here is to have the same amount of everything. I threw in the cherry tomatoes I had, but there weren't enough to equal the yellow squash, so I diced some romas as well. Also you can see that my enormous zucchini had to be cut in half for this recipe, as well as the eggplant, because apparently stores right now only have ridiculously huge eggplants and teeny tiny yellow squash. Just try to get about the same amount of each veggie.
Instructions:
Dice and sautee each veggie separately, then mix together and cook over med-low heat about 15 minutes.
That's seriously it.
So while it is slightly time-consuming, it's super simple. If you have more than one good-sized frying pan it will go faster, as you can sautee more than one veggie at a time. But I find it easy enough to dice the next while the first is sauteeing.
If I'm using cherry tomatoes (which, let's face it, I probably am. Dang stores only selling cherry tomato plants in flats of 6 when I only wanted 2...) I don't dice them at all. I just toss them in my stew pot and let the heat burst them. ---->
Today I diced the romas, because they're just huge and ridiculous if you don't, and that way I had some stew juice to start out with. So I got the tomatoes stewing while I sauteed the onions, then as each veggie finishes sauteeing you can just add it to the stew pot with the tomatoes and whatever else is in there at the time.
Once everything is together in the pot, you can add some salt and spices if you want, but be sure to let everything stew together for about 10-15 mins.
I've seen some versions that mimic the Disney movie, where each veggie is sliced and laid out all pretty and it's cooked in the oven. Try it if you want, but I sure like my recipe :)
I've also seen recipes that call for bell peppers, but mine are so amazingly sweet this year that I think I want to eat them raw on their own instead of stewing them up with my squash :)
The first time I made it, the recipe called for sliced onions instead of dicing them. I found that to be too overpowering, so I dice mine.
If this isn't hearty enough for you, I think sausage or bacon would be really tasty added in.
Have you seen the Disney movie? You know the part where the rat makes ratatouille for the food critic guy, and as he takes a bite he stops and is transported back to a childhood memory of a warm kitchen that obviously smells amazing and a huge bowl of stew to warm him up on a cold fall day? That is SERIOUSLY what ratatouille tastes like.
It's also super easy to make, and will use up some of the veggies your garden is typically overrun with. I had to go buy eggplant and yellow squash, because we didn't feel like trying to make those work this year, and an onion, but the zucchini and tomatoes are all from the back yard.
The recipe is super easy. It's three steps that you repeat for each food item: Dice, Sautee, Stew.
So here's the recipe with pictures cuz I like pictures.
Ratatouille
1 medium eggplant
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini (medium is a relative term here)
2-3 cups cherry or roma tomatoes (or a mixture)
1 onion
Instructions:
Dice and sautee each veggie separately, then mix together and cook over med-low heat about 15 minutes.
That's seriously it.
So while it is slightly time-consuming, it's super simple. If you have more than one good-sized frying pan it will go faster, as you can sautee more than one veggie at a time. But I find it easy enough to dice the next while the first is sauteeing.
If I'm using cherry tomatoes (which, let's face it, I probably am. Dang stores only selling cherry tomato plants in flats of 6 when I only wanted 2...) I don't dice them at all. I just toss them in my stew pot and let the heat burst them. ---->
Today I diced the romas, because they're just huge and ridiculous if you don't, and that way I had some stew juice to start out with. So I got the tomatoes stewing while I sauteed the onions, then as each veggie finishes sauteeing you can just add it to the stew pot with the tomatoes and whatever else is in there at the time.Once everything is together in the pot, you can add some salt and spices if you want, but be sure to let everything stew together for about 10-15 mins.
Variations
I've seen some versions that mimic the Disney movie, where each veggie is sliced and laid out all pretty and it's cooked in the oven. Try it if you want, but I sure like my recipe :)I've also seen recipes that call for bell peppers, but mine are so amazingly sweet this year that I think I want to eat them raw on their own instead of stewing them up with my squash :)
The first time I made it, the recipe called for sliced onions instead of dicing them. I found that to be too overpowering, so I dice mine.
If this isn't hearty enough for you, I think sausage or bacon would be really tasty added in.
