Ratatouille!!

I never gave much thought to ratatouille (aside from the awesome Pixar/Disney movie) and when I did, it just... it did nothing for me.

Epiphanies, revelations and a couple tries later; I'm in love.

It all started with a produce box. And a cucumber impersonating an eggplant.

Side story time! Our list that's included with our produce box said something about a japanese eggplant. And I definitely didn't blink at all when it was handed to me. It clearly looked like a cucumber. Smelled like one. But I stowed it in my grocery bag until later that night. And I was so upset, disappointed and frustrated when I sliced it open and the aroma of cucumber hit my nose. But - I decided to roll with it.

I digress; here were my produce items:

Heirloom tomates, cilantro, traitorous cucumber, onion and tiny tomatoes.

And this was the recipe I followed. With cilantro added into the sauce. And cucumber substituted for eggplant. Don't do this. Just. Don't.

The result wasn't bad, the cucumber was definitely out of place, but it wasn't too bad. The puree needed work and overall, it was a nice first try. You know, pat on the back, good job - sport. A for effort type attempt.

So today, I went with a few fine ladies to a magical place with glistening happy vegetables and fruits galore. A place called Underwood Family Farms in Simi Valley.

I picked up some heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, sweet bell peppers (white, purple, green) and squash of the yellow and green persuasion. And went with my own recipe, loosely based on the original.

Ratatouille

Tomato Puree:
6 medium heirloom tomates (reserve 2 for veggies - see below)
1 tbsp minced garlic (about three cloves)
1/2 sm-med sweet onion
1/4 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp red wine
1-1 1/2 tsp salt
1-1 1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

In a blender or food processor, combine all things. And liquify. Easy, right? If you want chunks of onion and tomato, then pulse everything. And remember to taste. And taste often. Then adjust to your taste.

Move that puree to cover the bottom of your baking dish. I used cake tins. Cause cake tins are badass multi-taskers.

Veggies:
2 sm eggplants
1 med-lg zucchini
1 med-lg yellow squash
3 sm bell peppers
2 med heirloom tomatoes (slicing this sucks, you've been forewarned)

Run all those bad boys through a mandoline. Do not shave off a piece of your hand or knuckles. No one wants human flesh slices in their ratatouille. Well, maybe some people do. Me, I'll pass.

Next, make those slices dance on top of that tomato puree. Kind of like this:

Concentric circles: it's a beautiful thing.

Cover those luscious disks of delight with parchment and whisk them away to the oven - 350F for 45-55 minutes until that puree is a bubbling up on the sides.

I served mine with some risotto. And this time around, it was divine. The vegetables were perfectly cooked, the flavors were harmoniously married with the tomato puree, and the kick from the red pepper flakes - sigh. And life was grand that night.