Big Easy Ratatouille

An eggplant languishing in the fridge.  Four zucchini squash.  Nearly every tomato in the garden ripe on the same day.

How can such a dead looking vine produce so many beautiful tomatoes?

I hate to admit it.   I couldn't think of anything better. 

The stars were perfectly aligned for ratatouille.  And I don't mean Disney.

I never even heard of ratatouille until I moved to New Orleans.  Haven't seen it since.  I don't know if it is still popular there, but it seemed as if ratatoulle was on every menu in the city back when this country mouse first arrived.

Ratatouille comes from the French word touiller, meaning to toss food.

Seemed appropriate enough to me.  Back then, I thought anything with eggplant in it pretty much meant tossing one's cookies, anyhow.

But even a confirmed eggplant hater can relent.  All it took was the perfect storm of just the right vegetables on hand. 

And a whole lot of garlic.

The stuff was good.  Really good.  Who knew? 

Ratatouille

loosely adapted from Epicurious.com 

Ingredients:

6 really large plum-amazing tomatoes from the garden, or 2 1/2 pounds of any fresh tomatoes.

6-8 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced.

Herbes de Provence.

Up to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil.

1 medium eggplant, cubed.

2 1/4 tsp salt.

8 oz mushrooms, sliced.

1 large onion, thinly sliced.

2 bell peppers, red, yellow, or green, cut into one inch pieces.

4 small to medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 3/4 inch pieces.

shaved parmigiano cheese.

Preparation:

Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato and drop into a pot of boiling water for 1 minute.  Transfer tomatoes with a slotted spoon to a cutting board and, when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin with a paring knife.  Actually they pretty much peeled themselves.  

Coarsely chop tomatoes and transfer to a 5 qt heavy pot with 1/3 cup extra virgin olive and the garlic.  Add parsley and basil, fresh if you have them. (If the only herb to survive in your garden this year is catnip, try a tsp of dried Herbes de Provence instead.) 

Simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes break down and sauce is slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. 

It was tempting to stop right here. 

The tomato sauce smelled wonderful all on it's own.  

But the eggplant in the fridge wasn't getting any younger.

While sauce is simmering, toss cubed eggplant with a half teaspoon salt in a large colander and let stand in sink for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown mushrooms in a couple tablespoons of oil over medium heat then, using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl.  In turn, add a little more oil and salt, and cook onions and transfer to bowl, then peppers, then zucchini. 

While the zucchini is cooking, pat eggplant dry with paper towels.  Once the zucchini is cooked, add it to the bowl with the other vegetables.  Put a little more oil in the skillet and cook eggplant over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 10-12 minutes.

Add all vegetables to tomato sauce and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender, about an hour.

I remember this dish being served in the French Quarter as a vegetarian main dish over rice.  

I serve it cautiously, a very small dose. 

It made a great side dish.

With zero arm twisting, I even had it for lunch the next day.  With leftover herbed chicken breast sliced on the side and a little parm shaved on top.

* No cookies were was tossed in the cooking, serving, or eating of this dish.