Ratatouille!

So, our ratatouille does not look as pretty as in the movie when prepared by a lil rat...BUT it sure was tasty! ANNNND Lizz and Eric can attest to this cause they chomped it down with us.

The recipe comes from Cooks Illustrated


Ratatouille

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants (about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes
• table salt
• 2 large zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds), scrubbed and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup olive oil- I accidentally used about 2 tablespoons more than this because I lack reading skills
• 1 large onion , chopped large
• 2 medium cloves garlic , minced
• 2 medium tomatoes (ripe), about 1 pound, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• ground black pepper

Now the thing with Ratatouille is it's basically a big ole' vegetable stew so you can add whatever you think would be tasty. We happened to have extra portabello mushrooms on hand and having no idea what to do with them i chopped them up and threw them in too. It was a very good decision.


If anyone has ever cooked with eggplant you know that it is very tasty, but a pain to cook because it loves to soak up things like oil and become a soggy blob. The thing I liked about this recipe was it dealt with some ways to deal with this. Now you can make a ratatouille by just throwing all this stuff in a pot and going, but i would recommend following this recipe cause it rocks.


First cut up the eggplant, put it in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with 2tsp of salt. Make sure it's all coated and let sit for about an hour. This drains out all the water and lets it cook better. yay.


















When done, rinse the salt off and put on a bunch of paper towels and squish them nice and dry.


















Next cut up the zuccini.


















Throw it in a bowl with the eggplant. Toss with 2tbsp of olive oil (this is where i accidently used 4...oops...tasted fine, just added a few calories.)

Put the eggplant and zuccini on 2 foil lined pans and bake at 500 for 30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes and rotate pans on the rack about halfway through.























When done you will have some good roasted veggies


















While that's happening cut everything else up.


















Let's get the other stuff going!

In a dutch oven heat up the remaining 2tbsp oil and throw in the onions. Cook onions on medium low for about 15 minutes until nice and brown. Add in the garlic and stir.

Throw in the tomoatoes and let cook about 5 minutes until the tomato breaks down and it gets all juicy and saucy. I added the mushrooms in at this point so i let it cook for about 10 minutes instead of 5.


















Add the nice roasted zuccini and eggplant in and stir gently so as not to mush it all up and let it cook for about another 5 minutes.


















Add the parsley, thyme, and basil and voila. Serve on some bulgur wheat!


















Enjoy!!!


















Nutrition for 1 serving of ratatouille (above recipe makes 4):
Calories: 322
Protien: 6g
Fat: 21g
Carbs: 33g

Nutrition for 1/2 cup bulgur wheat:
Calories: 76
Protien: 3g
Fat: 0g
Carbs: 17g