Summer vegetable ratatouille with stuffed squash blossoms Jeremy Bearman

By á-32

Ingredients

• 2 cups large diced zucchini
• 2 cups large diced yellow squash
• 1 cup medium diced red bell pepper
• 1 cup medium diced yellow bell pepper
• 3 cups large diced eggplant
• 1 1/2 cups small diced onion
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced garlic
• 3 cups large diced tomato
• 2 cups olive oil
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 2 sprig rosemary
• 2 sprigs savory
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 head whole garlic cut in half with the skin
• 1 sprig lavender
• 1/2 tsp. of chile flakes
• 1 bunch Basil
• 8 squash blossoms
• 1 cup all purpose flour for dredging
• 2 eggs whisked together for wash
• 4 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup dried herbs de provence
• 1 cup sheep’s milk ricotta or regular ricotta drained
• 1/2 cup parmesan

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

For the oil:
Heat the olive oil to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the stove and add the thyme, rosemary, savory, Chile flakes, halved garlic, lavender, and bay leaf. Let sit for 1 hour or until the oil has a nice flavor of all the herbs. Cool to room temperature and keep out of light.
For the ratatouille:
In a large shallow saucepot, heat about a 1/2 cup of the provencal oil until just before it starts to smoke. The burner should be on high so that it can keep temperature when you add all of the vegetables. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant and begin to color. Season with salt and pepper. After about 2 minutes of cooking, add the red and yellow peppers and cook until tender but not soft. The idea here is to roast the vegetables getting a nice brown color to the squash and eggplant without overcooking them. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel to remove any excess oil.
In a large cold saucepan, add the sliced garlic to about a ¼ cup of the provencal oil. Begin heating the pan on medium heat and continually stir until the garlic just begins to turn brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic as this step goes quite quickly. Have your onions and tomatoes close at hand. Add the onions to the brown garlic and sauté on medium heat until they are soft but not browned. If they begin to brown, just turn the heat down. Add the tomatoes and turn the heat back to high. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and cook until the tomatoes lose almost all of their water and the sauce becomes thick. It is important to cook this very quickly as not to lose the freshness of the tomatoes. When the sauce is thick, add the vegetables from above together in the same pot and cook for another 2 minutes on high until everything comes together. Remove from the heat, drizzle another 1/8 of a cup of provencal oil in and then add the chopped basil. It is best to serve this right away but not too hot. It can also be cooled and reheated the next day and while the flavor will be great, the color will start to dull after a couple of hours.
For the squash blossoms:
Remove the stamen from inside each of the squash blossoms by inserting your finger and gently loosening it from the bottom of the blossom. Be careful not to puncture the outside walls. Mix together the parmesan and ricotta and season with salt and pepper. Place the mixture in a piping bag and pipe it into the blossom until it is about 2/3 of the way full. Fold the ends of the flours underneath to close the blossom and contain the cheese. Dredge each blossom in the flour, then egg wash, then in the seasoned bread crumbs (the bread crumbs can be made by taking the panko and grinding it in the food processor for just 30 seconds with the dried herbs de provence and a touch of salt for seasoning). When they are all breaded, you can sauté them in a pan with a thin layer of the provencal oil on medium heat. They only need to cook long enough to get nice and brown on each side. It should take no longer than 2 minutes to cook. If you let the inside get too hot, the cheese will become grainy and they might just burst open. When they are crispy, place them on a paper towel to drain. Serve the squash blossoms on top of or with the ratatouille and garnish with some fresh basil leaves.