bearing blog: All-day ratatouille.

11 July 2010

All-day ratatouille.

The original summer stew, which I made from a hybrid of about three different recipes plus my own little twist. We were going to be gone most of the middle of the day, so I decided to slow-cook it for 7 hours in a low oven, in my French-oven stew pot (you know, the heavy enameled cast-iron kind with two handles and a heavy lid -- mine's from Tramontina, not the pricier Le Creuset). Worked like a charm!

All-day Ratatouille

1 big eggplant
3 medium-to-large zucchini
2 big red bell peppers, seeds and ribs removed
2 yellow onions
3 ripe tomatoes
10 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
Fresh thyme sprigs and chopped basil leaves
Lots of olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper

Peel and trim the eggplant and slice 3/8-inch thick; cut rounds into quarters. Toss eggplant slices in a colander with a tablespoon or so of kosher salt and allow to drain for 30 to 60 minutes. Before proceeding, squeeze out all the excess liquid, rinse, and pat dry with paper towels.

Trim the zucchini and slice diagonally 1/4-inch thick. Slice the peppers 1/2-inch thick. Slice the onions thinly. Trim the tomatoes and slice 1/4 inch thick.

Heat a fairly thick layer of olive oil in heavy pot or skillet over medium-high heat. (I used the same heavy-lidded enameled pot I would bake it in, but you could use a skillet for this step if you intend to bake the ratatouille in something not stovetop-safe.) Fry the zucchini slices in batches in a single layer, turning once, until lightly brown on both sides. Remove the slices to drain on paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat with the eggplant, adding more oil if necessary, and removing to a different paper-towel-lined plate.

Into the hot, oiled pan, add the onions, stir and toss for a few minutes, and then add the peppers, garlic, and a few sprigs of thyme and some of the basil. Sauté until tender, adding salt to taste. Lay the tomato slices on top of the mixture and let cook down for a bit, then stir and toss some more until everything is soft and well blended. Transfer to a dish. (At this point I wiped out the pot)

Film the bottom of a heavy lidded pot with olive oil. Layer a third of the tomato-pepper-onion mixture, half the eggplant, half the zucchini, the second third of the tomato-pepper-onion mixture, the rest of the eggplant, the rest of the zucchini, and the final third of the tomato-pepper-onion mixture. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Cover and bake for several hours at a low heat. I baked mine at 275 degrees F for 2 and 1/2 hours, then turned the oven down to 250 and left it the rest of the day; all day at 250 would probably work too. I checked it a couple of times to make sure there was still plenty of liquid. There was.

I served it with a sprinkling of more fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil, on a bed of polenta with lots of Parmesan. (French-Italian fusion cuisine!) Mark said that it was the first time he thought he'd ever enjoyed eggplant. With it we had some strawberries in balsamic vinegar.

This was a great dish for a Sunday, because I did all the prep work in the morning before 11 AM Mass, and then I didn't have to do anything else before dinner except grate cheese and cut strawberries and drink Cabernet.

11 July 2010 in Recipeblogging | Permalink