Cooking to the Beat of Ratatouille

So this week I have been cooking dinner for my parents, and tonight I thought I'd be a little fancy and make them something new! Ratatouille- which I guess is not that fancy when you think about its origin, but hell, it's a pretty dish to look at if you ask me. I found a fairly simple version of it and than made it my own. I have this thing for never really following a recipe, but instead just looking at it and getting an idea of how it looks and the basic ingredients. I'll put the link at the bottom for those who are curious to see where I got my recipe from.

Ingredients:
1 fairly long green zucchini
1 fairly long yellow zucchini
1 red pepper
2 short eggplant
1/3 can of tomatoes - already chopped (you can use fresh to!)
1/3 of a sweet onion
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Sage

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

First things first, chop your eggplant into slices (circular, like potato chips). Than, stick them in a strainer, put a little bit of salt on them, cover them with a cloth, and place something heavy on them. BUT WHY you might ask? Well, eggplant can be VERY acidic! And by placing something heavy on them and putting pressure on them, you can get rid of some of the acidity. You should give them at least 45 minutes to sit.

Next, get an oval baking dish (or any other shape you little hearts desire) and poor the tomatoes in. Chop up your garlic and onion and add them as well, spreading them evenly around so it is just a thin layer.

Chop up the rest of the vegetables just like you did with the eggplant. The pepper you can cut the same way, just be sure to take off the top and clean out the inside carefully so you do not break the pepper. Now, you layer them going around the dish so each vegetable is showing just a little; make a pattern with them.

Drizzle some olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. Put a couple of sage leaves on the top, and cover with parchment paper that has been cut so it fits the oval baking dish and can just rest on top of it. Cook for 45 minutes - more or less depends on you! Serve and enjoy!

I served mine on top of cous cous that I just tossed with some green onion and lemon juice, topped with some greek yogurt (my parents were eating it not me; if your vegan too, just ignore the yogurt!). YUM!!

Always cooking up a song,

Julia

Link: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/07/rat-a-too-ee-for-you-ee/