It is the story of a little mouse with a big dream. Inspired by the ghost of Chef Gaston, who's motto, "Anyone Can Cook!" the kitchen talented rodent leads us to Paris where he makes a splash in the kitchen of Gaston's restaurant and changes the lives of all around him. In the end, the mouse impresses an important food critic with his version of ratatouille, a french peasant dish. The critic, in one forkful of this exquisite creation is transported back to his childhood kitchen where his mother placed a steaming bowl of comfort food in front of her forlorn son to cheer him.
It is not long after I see the movie that visions of ratatouille begin to fill my head. I begin to crave the smell of the roasting vegetables bathed in a chunky tomato broth and baked to flavor intensified perfection. The magic of the oven transforms vegetables that I do not like (zucchini, yellow squash) into love. My mother used to make a vegetable stew, perhaps the Italian version of ratatouille, with eggplant, onions and tomatoes. I never really liked it, but I would still eat it, thinking that it probably would make me a better person, or something like that.
So, here is my "recipe" for ratatouille. Watch the movie and it will taste even better!
splash of olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large sweet onion, halved (chop half and save the other half for later in the recipe)
6 very ripe beautiful tomatoes
handful of fresh basil
fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
Half the onion from above
2 Roma tomatoes
In a big pot, splash some olive oil and saute the chopped onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Peel the tomatoes and cut into coarse chunks. Add to the pot. Chop the basil finely and add to the pot. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook this over medium to low heat until it is bubbly and saucy.
Slice the vegetables approximately 1/8" thick. (If you can find the first three all the same size, your dish will look prettier. There are many colors and sizes of eggplant, so you might try the narrower Japanese eggplant.) Splash a little olive oil in a glass or ceramic baking dish. Arrange the slices of vegetables, alternating in a chain pattern (watch the movie for the technique), covering the entire pan. Cover with the tomato sauce and bake at 375 degrees until the tender and fragrant and rich and delicious, about 35 minutes. To make this even more scrumptious, just out of the oven add slices of fresh mozzarella and let it melt.
Anyone Can Cook!
