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Waking up early on a rainy today to hit all the produce markets. That way I can get my veggies before half the neighborhood gets a chance to molest them all...
Natures rich bounty. Eggplants were 3 for 2 dollars and zucchini was 2 for a buck. Think it might be ratatouille tonight. Also I found 15 dollars on the ground so technically this shopping trip made me 4 dollars.
Well. Ball is rolling. Here’s what’s going to eventually get blended up into my sauce.
In here is an onion, garlic, red and yellow bell peppers, jalapeno, tomato paste, a little turkey stock I had left over, all the little end bits of my tomatoes and eggplant and zucchini with herbs provence and red pepper flakes salt pepper and a splash of Cabernet.
I’ve never made a ratatouille before so this will be an experience for all of us but when I saw eggplant zucchini and peppers on special at the produce market I figured I’d take the plunge. For better or worse. Gonna see if I can make one that resembles the one from the movie.
So here’s my sauce, blended with a stick blender just holding on a real low simmer. Tossed in a few bay leaves, just gonna let it go for a bit. I kinda want it on the thick side because when this thing goes in the oven the veg is inevitably going to seep water into it.
Now is when I’m starting to sweat a little. The eggplants were big, the zucchini was normal, I couldn’t find yellow squash anywhere and I blanched and peeled my tomatoes which may have been a mistake. My shingles may look kinda goofy.
Alright, so I got a base of sauce in the bottom of my dish, now I’m gonna shingle it. I already know this isn’t gonna look as good as I wanted to just because the goddamn eggplant is huge but I’m gonna do my best here.
Fucking little rat and his goddamn movie...
Okay... not awful. If the market had the long thin eggplants it woulda been better but it is what it is...
I’m gonna look at this for a few minutes, have another drink and preheat the oven to 375 because I didn’t do that already cause my apartment is already too hot.
Got a little dish of olive oil with some dried thyme, marjoram and basil. Why those? I don’t know. Thyme makes sense and something said to me, “add marjoram and basil” and marjoram has never steered me wrong and everyone loves basil. Gonna brush the whole thing with this.
It’s into the oven with the lid slightly cocked to let the steam out. Now we wait and see if I can plate this worth a shit when it’s done.
I’ve got my reserved sauce on the lowest heat set aside to finish and plate. Now it’s just a waiting game. I have a ton of eggplant and zucchini left so I’ll hafta make some kind of baba ghanoush or something.
Chatting with chef
And there it is.
And that’s that
Final verdict: it’s good. It’s tedious but the final product is worth the work. I won’t do it again any time soon but I’m happy with it. The sauce is the star and honestly I may start adding eggplant and zucchini to all my pasta sauces from now on.
