Receta Recipe: Ratatouille

by Lauren DeSantis

This recipe is quite different from our Grilled Vegetable Ratatouille that we made on our Thrill of the Grill episode with Heath Hall and Brett Thompson of Pork Barrel BBQ. Ratatouille is a perfect way to practice your knife skills.  Eat your veggies! Patrice Style Ratatouille Zucchini (medium diced) Yellow squash (medium diced) Eggplant (large dice) Fresh tomato (chopped) Red/green bell pepper (medium dice) Onion (medium dice) Garlic cloves (whole, smashed) Tomato paste Tomato juice or Stock Salt, pepper, bouquet garni Shenandoah Growers fresh basil Grease a large baking sheet and spread the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash onto the sheet. Drizzle olive oil and salt over the vegetables and broil. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. Heat your skillet on low/medium and add olive oil. Sweat your pepper and onion. Season with salt. Add garlic cloves to the skillet.  Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste to skillet, and work it to cook it through. You want the sweet tomato smell to give way to some nuttiness. Add chopped tomatoes and broiled veggies.  Add 1 cup of tomato juice.  Add bouquet garni, season.  Optionally, add sprig of fresh rosemary. Simmer on low, covered, for about an hour till all veggies are cooked and the veggie flavors have had time to meld. Ratatouille should be soupy, but not runny, and all veggies should be cooked to the point where the bits of veggie are soft and cut edges are indistinct. Top with chiffonade of fresh basil and serve. Photo by Shauna Alexander Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest StumbleUpon LinkedIn