Some may call it "poor man's stew", but Either way, Ratatouille is a very thick stew, or hot salad, that has a lot many ripe vegetables in it. The reason why they called it poor man's stew is because this was considered a peasant dish, and at some restaurants, it's still seen like that in France. YES! French food! When vegetables got too ripe, instead of throwing them out, peasants would make something like Ratatouille! Which is... Ratatouille... of course.There are many different variations on how to make this. If I'm making this for one (which I do often, because no one eats the food I make except me), I usually just stir everything together. You could slice the vegetables up, and arrange then in a casserole dish and bake the Ratatouille, or you could layer the sauce and vegetable neatly on a plate. It's really all up to you.
One last thing is, there are endless possibilities with the vegetable choices. What I used in this recipe is only a suggestion. Besides, every time I make this dish, I use whatever vegetables are available to me. I've used everything from corn, Chinese cabbage, zucchini, to Asian mushrooms, and bell peppers.
Ingredients:
6 medium sized tomatoes
1 medium white onion
1 clove of garlic
1 large eggplant
A handful of spinach
Dried pepper flakes
Bay leaves
Rosemary
Salt & Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Step 1: Slice the top and bottom of the onion and peel. Cut in half along the top and bottom, not the widest part of the onion, and slice. This is so you get strips of onion, not chunks.
Step 2: Turn the heat on high and pour some olive oil in the pan and add the onions. While stirring, break up the onion slices so you get strips. Turn the heat to medium to low while you start on the tomatoes.
Step 3: Stirring the onions occasionally, slice each tomato into four pieces and with your knife, remove the seeds. This seems time consuming, but it really is not. It's something to do while your onions are softening up.
Step 4: When the onions are soft and sweet, add the seedless tomatoes and the chopped garlic. Put in a bay leaf, and about a teaspoon of chopped rosemary. Stir to mix everything evenly, then put a lid on the pot and check and stir every few minutes.
Step 5: While the sauce is cooking down, prepare the eggplant. This is where you can decide on any type of vegetable you want. So far, I've tried eggplant and zucchini in the oven and they both work great. Slice or cut your vegetable(s) and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and pop in the oven at 350 degrees until they are tender.
Step 6: Halfway through the cooking process, if you've stirred and covered with a lid, the tomato sauce should look similar to this. This is where you can add salt and pepper to season. Add about half a teaspoon of pepper flakes and continue to let the sauce boil at the medium heat.
Step 7: For the spinach, use a small pan to wilt it down with some olive oil. The spinach wilts down quickly so cook that near the end and season with salt, pepper, and pepper flakes.
Step 8: Toss all the cooked vegetables with the tomato sauce and serve!
