Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Ratatouille - the dish

I decided to forego my workout so that I could cook those fresh veggies I bought at the farmers' market. I had been thinking about this one version by Alice Waters sometime ago as there was a bookmark that led me immediately to the page.

Before I left work, I jotted down the ingredients I needed to pick up from the store. I tried double checking the recipe online. The funny thing was that the first couple listing that appeared in the search had nothing to do with food. The first few searches implied there is a movie coming out next year called "Ratatouille." It looks like Pixar's next movie is about a rat who is a foodie... not quite the French vegetable saute I was looking for. I'm not excited about the movie title, but the animation looks nice.

So after baking, sauting, and simmering, I produced this lovely looking dish. It was also a good way to break in my new 3.5 quart buffet casserole.



The thing is, this took me more than an hour - start to finish. How are two working parents supposed to feed their family a healthy dinner with everything there is to do? It makes me appreciate the fact that my mom was able to get home at a decent time and cook fresh food (almost) every night. And then there's the cleanup part!

I toasted some sweet baguette slices and cut myself a piece of soft cheese. I topped off the vegetables with chopped parsley, chopped olives, and minced garlic as the recipe instructed. Topping the bread slices with the ratatouille tasted great. The only thing I'd change is sprinkling the raw garlic - yikes that was strong! I barely managed to eat a quarter of it. Yummy leftovers tonight!

I must do more cooking like this, and with more people around next time. This is one of those simple things that are so enjoyable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude, that looks so good. and the baguette with cheese sounds delish too!

okay, time for me to go home and eat dinner.

Anonymous said...

That looks so yummy, can you fedex me some please :)

NB