Ratatouille. The Food. Not The Movie.
"What is this?" the cashier asked.
"It's yellow squash," I replied. The cashier returned to his cheat sheet and tried to find the UPC for yellow squash. 70 cents finally popped up on the screen.
A few moments later, I realized he had put in the code for cucumbers. I hadn't picked up any cucumbers. Only zucchini. I decided to let it go. It was probably a mistake that cost me a few cents, but the effort to correct it would cost me precious time.
"What's this one?" the cashier asked as he held up the distinct purple orb that cannot be mistaken for anything else that exists in nature.
"It's an eggplant," I told him.
"A what?"
"Eggplant. E-G-G-P-L-A-N-T," I slowly answered.
The bagger started making fun of the 20-something year old cashier who apparently lives a very vegetable-deprived life, so I didn't have to. However, as Alexis and I were walking back out to the car, she turned to me and asked, "Why didn't he know what any of the vegetables were?"
"I don't know," I told her.
"He must have missed a few grades of school," Alexis decided.
I fought off the urge to laugh. As we drove home, Alexis told me about how she loves zucchini, squash, and eggplant, and could we please have tomatoes, too?
Yes, kid, we can.
Ratatouille. It combines all of summer's vegetables into one versatile dish. There are all sorts of ways to serve it, but I like it on top of a bed of plain Jasmine rice. It's fairly easy to make and, I think, pretty darn under appreciated.
I have probably ten different recipes for ratatouille sitting around. I don't really have a favorite, so I just sort of alternate them. I went with a tomato-heavy version this time since Alexis picked approximately 139057832097 cherry tomatoes for me to use when making dinner.
In a perfect world, I probably should have peeled and seeded the tomatoes. I don't live in a perfect world, though. I live in a world where dinner needs to get on the table in a timely manner. You tomato seed haters can just go ahead and flame me now. I can handle it!
Ratatouille
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 medium eggplant, cubed
1 small yellow squash, cubed
1 zucchini, cubed
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil (approximate)
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic. Cook until soft.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Sauté the pepper until soft. Add to the large pot that's holding the onion and garlic.
3. Add another 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil to your large skillet. This time sauté the eggplant until it's soft. Move it to the large pot when it's done.
4. Next, it's time to sauté the zucchini and yellow squash until softened. Same thing as before--throw some oil into the large skillet and sauté away. Add the zucchini and squash to the large pot once they are softened.
5. Throw the tomatoes into that large pot with the vegetables.
6. Add the seasonings. Cook everything over medium heat for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the tomatoes cook down completely. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
7. Tah-dah! It's so easy Walt Disney thought a rat could make it. Disney was probably right.
Recipe
Reader Comments (9)
Going through the check out not long ago, the cashier picked up my bag of fresh mushrooms, and said "I see so many people with these fresh mushrooms! It makes me think that I should try some. I've only ever had the canned kind." I just shuddered delicately, and urged her to get some. Yikes! And I wish you lived close to me - you would not be buying those squash in a grocery store - even our chickens are getting sick of seeing all the extras!
You're supposed to peel and seed tomatoes? Really? Learning something new today that I will likely never ever do.
I've always wanted to try ratatouille, but my husband refuses any of the squash-type veggies. It looks & sounds delicious though.
I'm in the same boat, but I like the looks of your recipe, and we still have too many tomatoes. I may make myself some and have it for lunch for a couple of days.
Can i just chop up some regular tomatoes instead? My kids eat all the cherry ones (the baby even grabs green ones once the red ones are gone - guess he hasn't learned yet that no green ones = no red ones later), but I just got a bag of regular tomatoes from my bff's mom yesterday that need eaten up. I bet the kids would like this as a side dish with chicken! (since the baby is a MAJOR meat eater!)
My husband recently showed me some random Internet video clip of a person asking gradeschool kids to identify fresh vegetables, and most of them couldn't. Not even a carrot! It made me super sad. The next time we were grocery shopping, I quizzed our 4 year old, and thank goodness he knew a good portion of them. I just couldn't figure out why, even if cauliflower and lettuce aren't in your regular rotation at home, a person could get so far in life without knowing the names of the most basic of veggies! And wow, someone as old as a cashier at a grocery store? Eek.
Oh man, I should switch up one of our meals this week and make this because the neighbor gave us OMGZUCCHINIOVERLOAD.
I read this last week and then went to the grocery store to find all the veggies on sale right near the entrance. It felt like fate was waving at me and saying, "Hey!" So I made this for my family last night, and it rocked. It will make my recipe list for late summer / early fall each year. Thanks!
move over, i am moving in