Ratatouille
0 Picture
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic, minced
- 3 shallots, minced
- 1 large onion (about 12 ounces), minced
- 1/2 cup of olive oil (yes, that much. Summertime is living it up time.)
- A couple more glugs of olive oil. Hell, just keep the bottle handy.
- Salt and pepper
- 2 large red peppers, puréed in the food processor
- 4 pounds of very good regular field tomatoes, or fancy heirlooms if you’re rich. Just make sure they’re the kind you eat a piece of … and then involuntarily eat another piece of a minute later. Oh, and purée them in the food processor too.
- 2 1/2 pounds of summer squash and zucchini, 1/2-inch dice
- 1 1/2 pounds of eggplant, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
- Thyme and basil to taste
Details
Servings 1
Adapted from salon.com
Preparation
Step 1
Directions
Start by cooking the garlic, shallot and onion in the ½ cup of olive oil over medium-low to low heat in a heavy pot so that they soften and give up their liquid. Stir and try not to let them brown. (Meanwhile, cut the other vegetables; you’ll be waiting a while.) Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Once they became a pale golden sticky mess, add the puréed red pepper and let it get all nice and friendly. Season lightly with salt and pepper. The pepper should have a ton of water, so let it cook down, stirring every few minutes to make sure nothing gets too caramelized and burned, until — after God knows how long — you’ll have a rich, rusty jam.
To which, of course, you’ll add your load of puréed tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, and turn it way down to let that baby snooze off all its liquid. Season lightly with — guess what? — salt and pepper. You’ve probably already been cooking for an hour or more at this point. You’re not even close to being there yet. You’re concentrating its sugar and tartness, and it’s going to be all umami-oooo-Mommy. It’s worth it. Around this time, fire up your oven to 450. Stir the tomatoes occasionally, just so they don’t burn at the bottom.
Meanwhile, toss the zucchini with salt, pepper and olive oil. Taste a piece. Doesn’t it taste good? It’s going to be even better after you roast it hard in one layer on a baking tray. After the sizzling starts to slow down in the oven, take a peek. Are you getting some nice browning underneath? Great. Take it out, let it cool a bit before putting it in a big bowl and do it again until you run out of squash. Then do the same with the eggplant, putting it in the same bowl, and let them wait for the minister to their wedding.
When the 6 pounds of stuff you cooked in the tomato pot can be packed into a pint of good-God-DAMN goodness, it will have flavor that doesn’t quit — a finish that lasts forever. You’ll know it’s ready when it gives the oil back up, it makes squishy noises when you stir it, and when you taste it and suddenly want to punch a hole in the wall.
Now you’re ready to finish. Chop up some thyme and basil, as much as you like (I like a lot. Shocker), and stir the herbs into the tomato base. Carefully combine the tomato with the rest of the vegetables so that you don’t mash up your zucchini and eggplant. It’s victory lap time. Stick a spoon into it and feed it to people you love. Then wrap it up tightly and let it sit in the fridge for a day; it’ll be even better tomorrow — the flavors meld, the herbs work their way through the whole thing. Just let it come back to room temperature when you serve it, to your favorite people and maybe with some cheese and bread, and try not to break too much furniture.
Directions
Kale filling
Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onions. Sauté 1-2 minutes.
Add a splash of stock and the garlic. Continue cooking until onions are translucent.
Add kale, turnip greens, squash, parsley, salt and remainder of stock. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and add nasturtium blossoms.
Salal Raspberry Syrup
Blend water and berries in blender.
In a small sauce pan, melt butter over a low flame. Add berry mixture. Add sugar and stir.
Simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir regularly.
Crepes
Put milk, water, salt and eggs into blender. Add flour and butter. Blend at high speed for about a minute.
Put batter in freezer for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for an hour or two.
Heat one teaspoon of bacon grease in a 6-inch cast-iron pan at medium until it begins to smoke, but just barely.
Remove from heat. Pour ¼ cup of batter into pan. Roll your wrist until batter spreads across entire bottom surface of pan. Return pan to flame. Cook for 45-60 seconds.
Loosen edges of crepe with rubber spatula. Shake crepe back and forth in pan. Use spatula to turn crepe. Cook for an additional 10-20 seconds.
Repeat.
Serve, filled with toppings and sour cream or yogurt.
Directions
In a small saucepan, heat honey and water. When liquid comes to a boil, add berries. Stir. Remove from heat.
Add lime juice and rosemary. Leave to steep for 3-4 hours.
Strain. If necessary, press berry mash against strainer to release liquid.
Chill and serve.
Directions
In a saucepan, sauté garlic in olive oil.
Add remaining ingredients.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until slightly thick.
Remove from heat; cool.
Place mixture in a blender; process until smooth.
Use as sauce over pork, steaks or poultry.
Directions
Phase 1
Rinse mussels and steam in mixture of water and white wine. When shells open, turn off heat.
When mussels are cool enough to handle, remove meat from shells and use kitchen scissors to snip bysall threads from mussels. Put mussels in a bowl and set it aside.
Phase 2
In a dry cast iron pan, cook oyster mushrooms over medium heat until liquid disappears. Turn down heat and add butter.
When butter melts, add garlic and onions. Cook for one minute. Add 2 spoonfuls of wine and cook until wine is absorbed.
Add last spoonful of wine, and the parsley and mussels. Cook until mussels are hot. Set aside, covered.
Phase 3
Heat a small, thick-bottomed pan over a medium-low flame. Add butter. When butter is melted, add flour. Stir flour and butter for 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat milk and stock until it boils. Stir. Add salt. Remove from heat.
Pour liquid into roux and stir. When mixture begins to bubble, add lemon juice and remove from flame.
To serve
Pour cream sauce over pasta and top with mussels and mushrooms. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and pepper.
Directions
Cook rice.
Sauté onion, garlic, grated carrot, little pieces of zucchini and little pieces of fresh fennel. Add dill or fennel, more olive oil, and feta cheese. Turn off heat.
Remove a grape leaf from your jar and spread it flat on a cutting board. Take a spoonful of the rice and vegetables and plop it in the center of the grape leaf. Fold up the bottom of the leaf first, then fold the sides in and roll.
Put the dolmas in a big saucepan. (You want to fill up the bottom of the saucepan with dolmas.) Add water until the water level is about halfway up the dolmas. Add lemon juice.
Set a kitchen plate on top of the dolmas to hold them down during the steaming process. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil.
Minimize heat, and steam the dolmas for 30 minutes on the stove top. Keep an eye — the dolmas should be ready when the liquid is gone.
Drizzle with olive oil and serve with tzatziki sauce.
Directions
Spread cheesecloth on a flat surface.
Remove top from yogurt container. Take container and turn it upside down onto cheesecloth. Lift away container. Wrap yogurt in cheesecloth. Seal top of cheesecloth with a rubber band.
Stick chopstick or dowel through top of cheesecloth and suspend the bundle over an empty pot. Let drain for two hours.
Meanwhile, grate cucumber and squeeze liquid out. Press garlic.
After yogurt has drained, dump the resulting cheese into a bowl. Add garlic and vinegar. Stir.
Add dill and salt to taste and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with dolmas.
Review this recipe