Rainy Day Ratatouille
Rome is a rainy city in the winter. And this week is all rain…I do miss the DC frenzy over snow flurries (because really, all we wanted was a day off!) In anticipation of the grey, I wanted to brighten up my plate this week with this classic French staple that is usually made in the summer. Italians have the Sicilian counterpart in caponata - which is also delicious, but if you have picky eaters in the house, it might be a tougher sell with olives and capers. I love to make a batch of ratatouille (Rat-tat-two-e) at the beginning of the week and use it as a side dish for grilled meat, with eggs, with rice or just by itself for a quick lunch. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Olive oil
One onion, chopped
One garlic clove, minced
One small red bell pepper, chopped
One medium eggplant, chopped into cubes
One zucchini, chopped into cubes
One can of whole tomatoes (or chopped/strained tomatoes work fine)
1/2 cup/120 ml water
Two Tablespoons red wine vinegar
One kub-or or vegetable bouillon cube (optional - but I think it makes the vegetables pop!)
Dried thyme
Two Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (optional)
Black pepper to season
Directions
Start with two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot that you can cover. Add the chopped onions and let them sweat over medium heat - you don’t want them to brown, but to cook through to a clear point. After about five min, add the garlic, bell pepper, zucchini and eggplant and stir. Then cover and let this mixture sweat for about 7-9 minutes. You will need to stir every few minutes. Once the mixture has reduced a bit(all the water from the eggplant will come out), uncover and deglaze the pan with two tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Add the canned tomato, water, thyme and bouillion. Stir, then cover and let this mixture simmer for 10 min on medium-low heat. Taste the mixture at this point. If you don’t use the bouillion cube you may want to add salt at this point. If you did use the bouillion cube, skip the salt and add black pepper and the balsamic vinegar if you are using. At this point, I like to let the vegetables rest in the pot - with the stove heat off and covered for about an hour to let the flavors come together. because ratatouille just gets better with time. It keeps in the fridge for about three days. Enjoy!