
Ratatouille
What a great use of end of the summer tomatoes and zucchini!
Ratatouille
8 servings
6 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2 cups cubed)
2 zucchini squash, cut into 1/2 slices (about 2 cups)
2 yellow squash, cut into 1/2 inch slices (about 2 cups)
1 large onion, diced
1 red or orange or yellow bell pepper, sliced (poblanos work nicely too!)
8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
½ to 1 cup dried wild mushrooms, soaked and sliced
2 or 3 teaspoons Herbes de Provence
1 tied bundle of fresh herbs: 1 rosemary stem, 6 thyme stems, 3 sage leaves, 1 lavender stem, 10 basil leaves, 3 marjoram stems (Optional, use a total of 3 teaspoons herbes de province if you don’t have fresh herbs)
3 or 4 large tomatoes, chopped
1 or 2 8-oz cans of tomato sauce
4 oz. white wine
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano
The Herbes de Provence are essential in this dish. If you can get your hands on fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, basil and marjoram use them – if not, increase the amount of Herbes de Provence to 3 teaspoons.
The first thing you want to do is get all of your ingredients cut up and at hand near the stove.

Heat a large skillet until very hot, add some olive oil and toss in the garlic – cooking until light brown remove the garlic to a large Dutch oven or stock pot. Next, saute the eggplant until lightly browned,

This eggplant is just about ready for the Dutch oven.
Remove the eggplant to the Dutch oven, then brown the squash in batches
Add the squash to the Dutch oven when browned, then saute the red pepper and onions until lightly browned, add more olive oil to the pan as needed for the browning.

I used a mix of orange peppers, poblano peppers and threw in a red cayenne pepper as well. See that Dutch oven in the background? I had to move it all into my big stock pot.
Remove the peppers to the Dutch oven. Saute the fresh and wild mushrooms until lightly browned,
add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Pour in the white wine and sprinkle in the dried herbs, let simmer for 5 minutes.

Finally, the last of the veggies are in the pan
(If you use fresh herbs, tie them together and bury them in the mix in the dutch oven)

Bundled Herbs
Combine all ingredients in the dutch oven and simmer on medium heat until vegetables are tender, about approximately 20 minutes.

The big stock pot gives a bit more stirring room
If after 10 minutes the mix seems dry, add some more tomato sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan to serve.
Excellent with grilled pork tenderloin or toss with pasta or wait, do both!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Alone, the Ratatouille is a nice light supper and a perfect precursor to a cheesecake for desert! Visit wkf.com and check out our new NY style cheesecakes from our bakery friends on The Hill!