Small Town Summer: Ratatouille Locale

This weekend, after a week of being kitchenless, we finally got settled my mother's new house. Still limited in our supplies I made dinner. Luckily, an old neighbor gave us a huge stock of his fresh produce for our new house. Armed with the beautiful, garden fresh squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and onions, I went to work.





As part of my "Small Town Summer" Series, I made one of my favorite Summertime meals, Ratatouille. Ratatouille can be best described as a French Provencal vegetable stew. Though that description does it no justice. This meal is so good that almost anyone will love it.

Ratatouille is a prime example of a "food controversy." Different parts of France claim to have invented the dish and different cooks insist that they have the best methods and/or recipes to prepare the dish. What I love about it, no matter how you make it, it usually turns out to be amazing!

For this version I used all local vegetables and added a lot of flavor. While the cooking time for this dish is relatively quick the prep time for chopping takes the longest.

Ratatouille Locale: About six servings




Ingredients:

10-12 medium fresh tomatoes, in large chopped pieces

2 medium summer squash or  2 large eggplants, diced into 1 inch cubes

4 medium zucchini

2 green bell peppers, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

5-6 cloves of garlic (trust me it will mix in), minced

2-3 glasses of Red wine (not cooking wine! Ew! I recommend a dry variety such as a Pinot Noir)

1 chicken bouillon cube (optional, if you have it)

At least 15 leaves of basil, chopped

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Cooking Directions:

Make sure your squash and zucchini are diced into 1 inch cubes so that they will cook evenly. Put the zucchini in one bowl and the squash in another.




Dice green peppers and put in a separate bowl.

Chop tomatoes in large chunks and put in a bowl.




Chop onions and mince the garlic.




Heat a large, deep frying pan, drizzle olive oil into the pan, add the onions and lightly brown in the olive oil.

Add the zucchini and half of the minced garlic, begin to brown. Add a half glass of wine and mix in with zuchinni, onions, and garlic.

Add salt and pepper as you go, add bell peppers and squash. Mix the vegetables and brown. Add another half glass of wine to the mix. Turn down heat to medium low to absorb the extra liquid.




Heat up a large pot and add olive oil and the remaining minced garlic. Once heated add the tomatoes and another glass and a half of wine. Add salt and pepper and chicken bouillon cube. Frequently stir the mixture on medium high heat until it boils. Continue on low and stir, make sure not to over cook to keep a rich sauce.





When the squash, zucchini mixture is browned and ready, add the mixture to the tomato sauce. Stir the mixture well. Add the chopped basil and additional salt and pepper. Mix well and serve.

This stew is delicious on rice, pasta or even with just pieces of french bread and serve with a glass of Pinot Noir.

We put the stew on top of minute rice and served with pieces of everthing french bread. Delicious!





Voila! Dinner.


Variations:

Add browned mushrooms to the squash mixture (we didn't have any)

Top with grate parmesan cheese

Enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner