purplethunder3121 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Y'all act like you never eat vegetables. That's all this is, and the 'after' shot looks much like the first. The vegetables get tender but firm. Ratatouille used to be a coarse stew, but cooking methods have changed over the years. It's almost like a deconstructed vegetable soup. We dolloped some mascarpone cheese on top.

Oddly, the smell in the house did remind me of pizza, with the garlic, thyme, and tomato.

Just to be clear, the vegetables are: two different aubergine, yellow squash, zucchini squash, tomato, onion, red pepper and yellow pepper - all thinly sliced and stacked together on the tomato paste mixture.

AND NO RAW EGGS. hehehehe

Your ratatouille is different from mine, which comes from The Moosewood Cookbook. It was a family favorite for years.

the moosewood cookbook’s ratatouille

Ingredients

1. ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2. 4 cloves of garlic, minced
3. 2 medium sweet onions, chopped
4. 2 medium purple eggplant, cubed
5. 1 large zucchini or 2 medium zucchini, cubed
6. 1 bell pepper
7. 1.5 quarts (about 6 cups) of grape or roma tomatoes, cut in half
8. 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
9. 1 tbsp dried thyme
10. 2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
11. pinch of chili flake to taste
12. ¾ tsp sea salt
13. freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot until warm and add onions and garlic. Cook for 5-10 minutes until softened.
2. Add cubed eggplant, thyme, salt, chili flake and paprika. Cook until eggplant is ½ it’s original volume –about 12 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine everything.
4. Cook everything together, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes.
5. Serve warm, room temperature or cold.

This recipe is very close to my that of my provençal grandfather... All this ratatouille talk is making me hungry again!

CherryMoon57 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Your ratatouille is different from mine, which comes from The Moosewood Cookbook. It was a family favorite for years.

the moosewood cookbook’s ratatouille

Ingredients

1. ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2. 4 cloves of garlic, minced
3. 2 medium sweet onions, chopped
4. 2 medium purple eggplant, cubed
5. 1 large zucchini or 2 medium zucchini, cubed
6. 1 bell pepper
7. 1.5 quarts (about 6 cups) of grape or roma tomatoes, cut in half
8. 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
9. 1 tbsp dried thyme
10. 2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
11. pinch of chili flake to taste
12. ¾ tsp sea salt
13. freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot until warm and add onions and garlic. Cook for 5-10 minutes until softened.
2. Add cubed eggplant, thyme, salt, chili flake and paprika. Cook until eggplant is ½ it’s original volume –about 12 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine everything.
4. Cook everything together, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes.
5. Serve warm, room temperature or cold.

This recipe is very close to my that of my provençal grandfather... All this ratatouille talk is making me hungry again!

This reminds me of another old favorite dish--okra and tomatoes. Damn, now I'm hungry!

Ratatouille started as a coarse stew type dish, so the chunky vegetables aren't unusual. The thin sliced method is newer, but still as traditional in French culture. The thin sliced method is almost a deconstruction of the stew. All the elements are there, vegetables - tomato sauce, etc - just in a different configuration.

Gratins are pretty easy. It's vegetables, oil, bread crumbs, some Parmesan, Asiago, or Romano cheese on top. Sometimes you have a rue in it, or crush tomatoes, etc. You can make almost anything into a gratin.

No one I talk to here in upstate New York knows what okra is, or what to do with it! I want to cut it up, bread it, fry it, and dip it in Ranch dressing! hahaha