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09/27/2017 07:00 AMAs summer turns to fall, I start to get a little tapped out when it comes to vegetables. I'm still happy to pick up my farmshare every week, but I sometimes find myself fresh out of fun ideas when I look at all that wonderful food, often supplemented by the surplus from my friends' gardens.
One week, I just chopped everything up and threw it in a bowl.
A couple of tomatoes. A couple of onions. A head of garlic or two. Bell peppers. One smoky pepper, hot but not too hot. Zucchini, both yellow and green. A plump purple eggplant. Crunchy green beans.
It was basically a very informal approach to ratatouille, the Mediterranean stewed vegetable dish. It's definitely a French word, but the origins of the dish are a bit murky, according to the website A History of Things. It might be French. Or maybe Catalonian or Basque. It might go as far back as the pre-Roman era.
Whatever its origins, it's a perfect dish to enjoy as we slip into fall and harvest the last of the summer bounty.
And it's incredibly versatile.
Over the course of the next week, my daughter and I used ours for breakfast (sautéed with thyme and oregano over an English muffin and scrambled egg, with a bit of grated cheddar on top); lunch (brightened up with red wine vinegar and good olive oil, sea salt, and fresh pepper as a topping for an otherwise plain chicken sandwich); and dinner, in stir fries, with a marinara sauce over spaghetti, and in wraps with leftover chicken.
Each time I used it, I would add in different herbs, spices, and flavors. Basil, of course, for when I wanted it a little bit Italian, along with some oregano. Lemon grass along with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil for the stir fry. With a sriracha mayonnaise for the chicken wrap. I cooked up the eggplant separately, and thoroughly, keeping the rest of the veggies crunchy. I also vary the amount of tomato from one meal to the next.
Working from a Recipe
This coming week, my last week for the farm share, I plan to make it again and freeze some. When I unfreeze it, the ratatouille will be a bit more mushy and perfect to add into sauces, soups, and stews. I might mix in thyme and tarragon for a Spanish flavor, or cilantro and cumin for Mexican, and maybe serve it with homemade tortillas or arepas with chicken or pork.
To prepare for that one last batch, I checked in with some of my friends to find out how they make their end-of-the-season ratatouille. The answers ranged from my "whatever" approach to several specific recipes.
My friend Barbara-Jean Glisson said to check in with her mom, who lives down the street from me in Madison, for the best-ever recipe. A couple of my friends say they prefer the BluRay version, making reference, of course, to the 2007 Disney movie of the same name. Some made it on the stove, others in the oven, with an average cook time of an hour, and a few swore by their new Instant Pots, which significantly reduced the time required. Those who roasted it in the oven suggested it required less olive oil.
Lurrae Lupone says her Italian neighbor, when she lived in Greenwich village, added potatoes with skins for thickness, and called it "GOOM-BACH. Potatoes arrive at same time, of course, with great crusty bread and butter," she says.
Debra Pipes, a friend of mine from high school, says she swears by a recipe called "Weapons-Grade Ratatouille." From food writer Francis Lam, it can be found on the Salon website at www.salon.com. It calls for a ton of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and shallots, and is cooked for a very, very, very long time, because, as Lam says, "you're concentrating its sugar and tartness, and it's going to be all umami-oooo-Mommy."
Or Just Whatever
Kelly Goddard, who runs Barberry Hill Farm and the farmstand where I pick up my farmshare each week, says she loves a ratatouille recipe from her dad, who was a colonel in the army, and recently passed away.
"It's the best I've ever had and it was his only dish," she says.
I decided to follow up with my friend Barbara-Jeans's mom and headed down to her house to find out her recipe. I saw her husband, standing at the end of their driveway, looking worriedly up at the sky and then down the street. A late summer storm was about to blow in, the remnant of one of the recent spate of hurricanes.
"Mister Varley," I said, "where's Mrs. Varley?"
"Oh, she's out walking and I can't find her," he said. "If you find her, send her my way."
I knew where she might be and in fact, she was down the street at another neighbor's house, sitting and gabbing with Pat and yet another neighbor. I walked back up to let Mr. Varley know, then walked back down to get the recipe from the Mrs.
"Your daughter says you have the best ratatouille ever and says I need to get the recipe," I told her.
"Oh, that Barbara-Jean," she said, throwing her hands in the air. "She loved everything I ever made. I didn't have a recipe. It was just whatever."
Ratatouille Recipes
Rather work from a recipe when it comes to your ratatouille? Here's one from Kelly Goddard's dad, and a few beloved by Lee White, our food columnist.
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My Dad's Ratatouille Recipe
From Kelly Goddard
Ingredients:
2 small eggplant
5-6 garlic cloves
2-3 yellow/green squash
1 onion
Chopped tomatoes about 1 ½ cups (or 16-oz can of chopped tomatoes)
½ cup olive oil
glass red wine
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-2 Tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup fresh herbs (basil, oregano)
Directions:
Peel eggplant and cut into bite size chunks, cut squash into similar size disks, peel/chop onion.
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan 'til hot but not sizzling. Add garlic and cook garlic 3-4 minutes. I always sauté the eggplant first—don't be shocked when it absorbs most of the olive oil. An old Italian story was that, in Italy, only kings ate eggplant because only they could afford so much olive oil. Stir the eggplant chunks to make sure they cook on both sides. Add the squash and onion. If it seems dry, add more olive oil. The pan will be full but the squash cooks down—you must stir every few minutes for the first 15 minutes to make sure all ingredients make contact with the pan. Once the squash becomes translucent, it is time to add the tomatoes—you can also add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste if it needs thickening. Toss in a glass of good red wine (about 8 oz.) and some fresh herbs of your choosing (I prefer a handful of chopped basil) next add the salt and black pepper to taste. Put a cover on the pan and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. If you happen to have some fresh corn on hand, you can shave them off the cob and add them at the end.
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Ratatouille
Slightly adapted from recipe of Beverly Picazio of Stonington
From Lee White
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 to 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
One-half teaspoon crusted pepper flakes
2 medium-sized eggplants, peeled and chopped
3 zucchini, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 8-ounce packages of sliced mushrooms
4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 can lima beans
1 yellow squash, chopped
2 28-ounces crushed tomatoes
Fresh ground fresh black pepper and salt, to taste
Directions
Chop all vegetables to about the same side.
In a large (or Le Creuset) Dutch oven, sauté garlic in oil. Add pepper flakes. Stir in all the vegetables, including the tomatoes. Bring ingredients to a simmer, then cover and bake until fork tender, about 45 minutes. Season to taste.
Beverly thinks the dish is better made a day or two earlier. When reheating, add water if ratatouille is too thick.
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Roasted Vegetables with Whole Wheat Pasta
Adapted from Rachael Ray's show on ABC
From Lee White
Ingredients:
1 large head of garlic
extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, peeled, quartered and cut into chunks
1 small to medium eggplant, peeled, sliced vertically and cut into chunks
2 small zucchinis, halved or quartered, cut into chunks
1 large red pepper, cut, seeded and cut into chunks
2 pints of grape tomatoes
1 16-ounce package of whole wheat pasta (penne, rigatoni, or the like)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Directions:
To roast garlic: Set oven to 350. Cut about one-quarter off the top of the head of garlic. Place bottom side down on a piece of aluminum, pour some oil on the cut side, and tightly make an aluminum package. Place package in oven and roast for around 45 minutes to an hour. Let cool. (You can make this the next day or make a few heads. It will keep for days.)
Heat a large pot of salted water to boil. Set oven to 350 degrees. In a large cookie sheet, put all the vegetables onto the sheet, drip olive oil on the vegetables, add salt and pepper and, with hands, toss the veggies. Place in oven and roast for about 45 minutes. 10 minutes before the vegetables are done, put grape tomatoes onto another sheet and roast. Remove tomatoes and vegetables from the oven.
Around the time you put the tomatoes into the oven, pour the pasta into boiling water.
In a large bowl, squeeze garlic cloves from the head of garlic. Add salt and pepper. Drain pasta, but take about a cup of pasta water into the bowl with the garlic, salt, and pepper. Whisk or mash the garlic and boiling water. Add pasta along with all the vegetables (including tomatoes) and grated cheese and toss.
Can be served immediately, with some grated cheese to pass around the table. I gave half of this to my friends Nancy and Andy. I refrigerated the rest, ate it later, and it was just as good.
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Slow-Cooked Ratatouilles
Adapted from Dina Cheney's Year Round Slow Cooker (Taunton Press, Newton, CT, 2013)
From Lee White
Ingredients:
2 large eggplants, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
3 medium zucchini or yellow squash, cut into ½-inch pieces
3 tablespoons coarse salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small to medium red onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 red or yellow or orange bell peppers, cut into one-half inch pieces
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup tomato paste
1 28-ounce can whole or diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
10 grinds of fresh black pepper
½ cup packed freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
Directions
Grease slow cooker with cooking spray.
Place eggplant and zucchini in a large colander and toss well with 3 tablespoons of salt; let sit for about 45 minutes. Rinse well to remove salt, then dry well, gently squeezing out excess water with a kitchen towel. Add to slow cooker.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. When warm, add onions, bell peppers, and garlic and sauté until vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to the slow cooker.
Reduce the heat in the sauté pan to medium and add remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. As soon as it melts, add flour and tomato paste and cook until mixture is thickened and the flour disappears, about 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high and add tomatoes with their juices, thyme, and pepper. Cook, crushing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon until thickened and smooth, about 6 minutes. Mix with vegetables in the slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low until vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 hours. Uncovered and remove from the heat; immediately stir in the cheese and basil.
Serve over rice. Next time I will make the yellow rice I get at the supermarket in packets. After the rice is done, you may add bits of goat chicken and stir before you top with the ratatouille.
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Ratatouille
From In a Field of Her Own, by Ian Aldrich, Yankee magazine, July/August, 2011
From Lee White
Ingredients:
2 small eggplants, peeled and cubed
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt, plus more to taste
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium-size onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 red or green bell peppers, seeds and stems removed, thinly sliced
4 medium-size tomatoes, diced
4 small zucchini or summer squash, halved lengthwise, then sliced into half-moons
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
Directions:
In a colander, toss eggplant with salt. Let sit 30 minutes, then rise well and dry thoroughly.
Heat oil in a large (14-inch) frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, eggplants, garlic, and peppers; cook, stirring often, until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid evaporates. Add zucchini (or squash) and cook until tender, about 10 minutes more. Stir in basil, parsley, and oregano; then taste and add more salt if you like.